Redfern1950s has given himself a lift. Published here earlier in the month, we titled Red’s rat rodded school bus after the name your Mom used ‘professionally’, and – just like your Mom – Red’s recently enhanced things to make them a whole lot more… noticeable. Jacked suspension and comically enormous tyres complete the look and there’s more to see of Red’s enhanced Busty Rusty on Flickr here.
This TLCB Writer doesn’t often post Duplo creations here at The Lego Car Blog because he’s big boy and he can use the small bricks. He’s even built a 7+ set almost all by himself, Dad just had to help a little bit.
However he is posting a Duplo build (kinda) today because a) it’s awesome, and b) it’s awesome. Flickr’s Edward Lawrence has combined a Duplo van body with standard LEGO system pieces (and the surfboard from the Creator 10252 Volkswagen Beetle set) to create the ‘Duflo’, and it is, as mentioned above, awesome.
There’s more to see of Edward’s ‘Duflo’ mashup at his photostream – click the link above to make the jump!
Now that the title has pulled in a few people expecting to see something rather different, here’s a traction engine. This Case steam tractor comes from Nikolaus Löwe (aka Mr_Kleinstein) of Flickr, and not only does it look rather wonderful (unless you’re here hoping to see something else of course), it features remote control too, thanks to LEGO’s ace Power Functions system. Head to Nikolaus’ ‘Case Steam Tractor’ album via the link above to see more.
The BMW 5-Series has been the bastion of European executive transport for decades. 520d’s are everywhere, usually in grey, and – despite the ‘Ultimate Driving Machine’ tagline – they could only be less interesting if they were an X5. Which many now are. Sigh.
This though, is our kind of five. The E28 was the second generation of the 5-Series, produced from 1981-’88, and it was the first to feature both a diesel engine (boo) and an ‘M’ version (woo!).
This neat Speed Champions recreation of the E28 5-Series comes from regular bloggee Jonathan Elliott and it’s instantly recognisable. Head to his photostream to see more, plus his huge back catalogue of other brilliant small-scale replicas.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is the world’s infamous off-roader. Which means in some corners it’s very probably the most infamous vehicle of any kind. This is the 70-Series, produced since 1984 and which is still being manufactured today, specifically the medium-wheelbase ’76’ passenger version, recreated brilliantly in Technic form by previous bloggee Kevin Moo.
Wonderfully accurate on the outside, Kevin’s Land Cruiser is packed with remote control functions too, allowing the model to navigate the wilds of his back garden with ease. A third-party SBrick provides the 76 with programmable bluetooth control, with all-wheel-drive, steering, and LED lights, plus the build includes working suspension, and opening doors, hood and tailgate.
Full details of Kevin’s awesome Toyota Land Cruiser 76 can be found at the Eurobricks forum by Eurbricks discussion forum, where a link to building instructions can also be found so you can build your very own! Click the link above to take a look, or below to see Kevin’s brilliant build in action.
YouTube Video:
The Soviet Union was a miserable place of oppression, fear, and poverty. Unless you were at the top spreading the aforementioned oppression, fear and poverty, and then it was marvellous. However for all of its ills – and there were many – the Union did create some truly incredible feats of engineering. One of which is this, the amazing ekranoplan.
Well, not this one exactly, but Flickr’s General 尓àvarre has taken Rostislav Alexeyev‘s ingenious design to its ultimate conclusion, with his ‘MARK II Shiryokan Ekranoplan’ pictured here flying a test run over the waters in Bay 57.
Travelling just over the surface of the water below enemy radar, the General’s not-quite-a-plane-not-quite-a-boat is sure to surprise a few enemy mini-figures when they finally see it coming. We suspect their surprise will be brief though, looking at the various weaponry the MARK II is equipped with.
There’s much more to see of General 尓àvarre’s creation at his photostream – click the link above to head to the waters within an alternate Soviet Union.
This TLCB Writer is starting to see the new Land Rover Defender all over the place and, egh… he’s still not sure about it. As a cantankerous old goat he would rather have this one, from back before the Defender was even named as such, the Land Rover Series II.
This superb Technic recreation of the classic 4×4 comes from Kent Kashiwabara of Flickr, who has not only replicated the iconic look beautifully, his soft top ’90’ Landy also includes all-wheel-drive, working steering, an inline-four engine, and live-axle suspension.
There’s more to see of Kent’s model at his ‘Series II’ album via the link above, and with LEGO now having a partnership with Land Rover, perhaps an official classic Land Rover set is in the making…
Are you a discerning dictatorial mini-figure with a healthy paranoia over your own security, mild megalomania, and a penchant for violence? Then Henjin_Quilones has the transport for you! With ample space for two despots to travel in secure luxury, plus a crew of four protection officers, Henjin’s limousine includes a roof-mounted four-barrel blaster, Tesla Model-X-style falcon-wing doors, and retractable gold glowing steps, all of which are guaranteed to make a statement worthy of your arrival! Spend some of your ill-gotten gains and place your order now!
This TLCB Writer isn’t thinking about pizza (it’d be thin and crispy all the way), but rather pondering the ingenious nature of this ‘Heavy Communications Rover’ by The Brick Artisan. According to Brick, when dust storms or Blacktron agents disrupted satellite transmissions, a fleet of just four Heavy Communications Rovers could be used to communicate ‘seismically through a planet’s interior’, giving the entire surface network coverage. Mrs Mavis’ pot plants are shaking on her windowsill four thousand miles away and she’s convinced they’re taking to her, but it’s a small inconvenience to keep the Federation’s messages flowing. You can pick up the story at The Brick Artisan’s photostream via the link above, whilst this TLCB Writer orders a pizza for some reason.
Not the running bird type (we’re not sure why things are avian-themed today), but this rather beautiful Japanese National Railways 583-series ‘EMU’ train, built and photographed superbly by TLCB debutant Orient R. Minesky.
Orient has eschewed the usual plain background set-up (that admittedly we usually prefer) for gorgeous (and incredibly life-life) outdoor photography, making his stunning EMU train appear almost real.
Head to Orient’s photostream via the link above for all of the wonderful on-location imagery.
Like the Dodo, and those pointy-beaked flappy dinosaurs that killed everyone in Jurassic World, the Osprey is dead. At least LEGO’s version is. Following a petition by the German Peace Society, the new 1,636 piece set due for release in 2020 has been cancelled, on the grounds of it being a military vehicle (which we suppose it is), a category that LEGO have steadfastly tried to avoid in the past.
LEGO’s statement on the cancellation reads;
The LEGO Technic Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey was designed to highlight the important role the aircraft plays in search and rescue efforts. While the set clearly depicts how a rescue version of the plane might look, the aircraft is only used by the military. We have a long-standing policy not to create sets which feature real military vehicles, so it has been decided not to proceed with the launch of this product.
We appreciate that some fans who were looking forward to this set may be disappointed, but we believe it’s important to ensure that we uphold our brand values.
Which probably means if you managed to get hold of a LEGO Technic 42113 Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey set before the cancellation it’ll soon be worth at least $1 billion to those nerdy collectors who never take the bricks out of the box.
We’re not sure what we think about this one. We were rather surprised that LEGO released a military aircraft as a set (even one with no weapons), but we’re more surprised that they’ve now cancelled it, given the huge amount of work (and money) that will have gone into developing it for sale.
We guess we’ll stick to firing the machine guns on the 10262 Aston Martin DB5 007 set or the cannons on a LEGO pirate ship to get our LEGO violence fix instead.
This is a Nash Rambler Palm Beach, a concept car from 1956 styled by Pininfarina that sadly never made production but that unusually still exists today.
This beautiful Model Team recreation of the Palm Beach comes from Tim Inman of Flickr, who had replicated the stunning ‘50s lines superbly in Lego form, complete with a realistic straight-6 under the hood and an accurately detailed interior behind the opening doors.
There’s more to see of Tim’s Nash Rambler concept at his photostream; click the link above to head to an American motorshow c1956.
*Today’s travesty of a title song. It reached #1 in TLCB’s home nation. The same country that brought the world The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Queen, and Oasis. We’re not sure what happened in ‘94.
Simultaneously harmlessly brilliant and magnificently creepy, Flickr’s Blake Foster sure knows how to both delight and terrify in equal measure.
This Neo-Classic Space walking rover features the usual perennially smiling Classic Spaceman, but riding atop a mechanised body of horror.
There’s more to see of Blakes’s ‘AT-CST’ at his photostream; Click the link above to make the jump or alternatively try here for something featuring a bit less dread.
Almost every car manufacturer makes vans these days, however in Europe there was a time when there was pretty much just one; the Ford Transit.
So ubiquitous was Ford of Europe’s product that for decades the words ‘van’ and ‘Transit’ were interchangeable, like ‘vacuum cleaner’ and ‘Hoover’, or ‘hot tub’ and ‘Jacuzzi’.
Those days are long gone with the Transit now one of many, but Flickr’s Jonathan Elliott remembers a time when the Blue Oval had van market domination with his wonderfully pretty 6-wide Mk1 Transit.
Jonathan has captured the original Transit beautifully and there’s more to see at his photostream here.
Another day, and another Elf returned to the dilapidated hovel that is TLCB’s office.
Triumphantly we might add, for it was riding atop this superb SBrick-controlled RC trophy truck by offroadcreations of Eurobricks. Whereupon it immediately went on the rampage and squashed as many of its colleagues as it could. Because of course it did.
Servo steering and XL drive combined with independent front and live axle rear suspension made the Elves on the floor easy pickings, so whilst we tidy up and possibly take a few of the casualties to ‘Elf Hospital’ you can see more of offroadcreations’ Technic trophy truck at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.
