EXP.SUV

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As regular readers of this muddy puddle in the corner of the internet’s parking lot will know, we’re not fans of pointless, gargantuan, ‘assertively’ styled SUVs. With some kind of arms race underway, they just keep getting bigger and uglier. This one nearly made us throw up.

However, in a move that is either deeply hypocritical or some kind of counter-cultural protest, we do like proper off-roaders. Land Rover Defenders (not this one though), Mercedes-Benz G-Wagons (not this one though), Toyota Hiluxes and so forth are marvellous machines unencumbered by status and a radiator grille the size of Disneyland Paris.

Which is probably why we rather like this ‘EXP.SUV’ by TLCB favourite Horcik Designs. Planetary hubs, long travel suspension, and a winch make this the real deal, whilst a LEGO Buggy Motor hooked up to a BuWizz bluetooth battery make it surprisingly quick. It certainly caught a few inattentive Elves unawares when it came rampaging through their cage room. Best of all though, it’s not got a luxury badge on its hood and Tarquin and Olivia in the back being transported between the gates at the school to the electric ones at their house, less than 1/2 a mile away.

There’s more to see of Horcik’s ‘EXP.SUV’ on Flickr and at the Eurobricks discussion forum, plus you can also watch a video of it in action where it belongs – off-road – below. Click on the links above to take a look whilst we take the BMW X7 to pick up Tarquin and Olivia from school…

YouTube Video

 

Why Do Only Fools and Horses Work?

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Britain has many famous TV cars. Ford Capris, Jaguar MkIIs, Volvo P1800s, and, er… the Reliant Regal Supervan. Yes, they really called it that, meaning it held the most ironic name in vehicular history until it was finally surpassed by the Mitsubishi Carisma in the late ’90s.

Flickr’s de-marco has captured the classic three-wheeled delivery van to perfection, and only the addition of ‘Trotters Independent Traders’ to the sides could make it any more cushty.

Click the link above to head to Peckham sometime in the 1980s. Lovely jubbly.

(If you have absolutely no idea what we’re on about, click here…)

The Chances of Anything Coming to Mars…*

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TLCB debutant First Order Lego is taking coronavirus quarantining to the extreme with this vignette. Still, the bat-based biological agent is unlikely to be on Mars, so perhaps this jovial mini-figure has got the right idea. Join him on the red planet via the link, although that might scupper the whole point of his trip…

*Today’s marvellous title song.

Challenge Accepted

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We have a very happy Elf here in TLCB Towers today. Not only has it earned a meal, and a yellow Smartie (due to the yellowness of its find), it also managed to use the model it found to squash a fellow Elf. Only one, but that’s better than none if you’re one of our smelly little workers. It required some ingenuity to do it too, seeing as the model it found is on the slow side, but we won’t detail its methods here as we suspect some of the Elves are learning to read.

The find in question is this enormous fully remote controlled Challenger MT965E tractor, controlled via bluetooth thanks to a third-party BuWizz battery and with a suite of Power functions motors. An XL Motor drives all four wheels (making it appropriately slow, hence the lone squashee), whilst the MT965E’s articulated steering is delivered by two linear actuators driven by an L Motor. There are manual locking differentials, a working V12 engine, a Medium Motor powered rear hitch, and an L Motor driven rear power take-off.

All of that makes newcomer mktechniccreations’ creation seriously impressive from an engineering perspective, plus it looks super accurate too, with its excellent action to detail enhanced by realistic custom decals. There’s more to see of the Challenger MT965E at mktechniccreations’ Bricksafe folder and at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find a link to building instructions and a video of the model in action.

Critters

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OK, these are a very long way from being cars, but they’re so cunning in their construction it was too hard not to post them. Built by Flickr’s Blake Foster these ‘Critters’ come in Classic Space and M-Tron flavours and there’s more of them to see at Blake’s photostream via the link above!

Flight of Fiction

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This incredible looking co-axial(?) helicopter is not a recreation of a real aircraft. But it is ridiculously cool. Flickr’s Robson M (aka BrickDesigners) is the designer behind it and there’s more to see of his superbly built and presented concept helicopter gunship at his photostream via the link.

Timberjack

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This TLCB writer prefers the planting of trees to the harvesting of them (seriously, why the heck aren’t we planting trees everywhere? There is literally no downside, only cleaner air, more wildlife, and less CO2), but if they must be ‘harvested’ there are some pretty cool vehicles with which to do it. This is one example, a Timberjack 1010B as built by previous bloggee Keko007. With an articulated middle, rear tracks, and a giant grabby claw thing, it does look rather fun. See more of Keko’s beautifully presented model on Flickr via the link.

White Elephant

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Is there a car we hate more than the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG? Ok, maybe the Audi SQ7. Or the Hummer H2. No… no, with think this takes it. We hate it on a cellular level. From its stupid bodykit to its stupid wheels via its stupid interior, we hate it.

That said, this Lego recreation of the G63 AMG by Flickr’s Noah_L is awesome. Recreated with incredible attention to detail, Noah’s stunning model perfectly replicates Mercedes-Benz’s most ludicrous SUV, from its stupid bodykit to its stupid wheels via its stupid interior.

There’s more to see of Noah’s genuinely phenomenal build, including a link to building instructions, at his ‘Mercedes-AMG G63‘ album – join us there where we’ll be simultaneously viewing the images in awe and hating it.

T’was a Telehandler

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There are three weeks to go in TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition and there have been so many brilliant entries so far! Eurobricks’ Tomik has entered several builds in the hope of bagging an awesome SBrick Plus Pro Pack, with his latest B-Models both coming from the parts found within the 42061 Technic Telehandler set.

An off-road buggy with working steering and a mid-mounted piston engine, and a light helicopter with simultaneously turning main and tail rotors are the products of Tomik’s ingenuity, and there’s more to see of both creations by clicking here, where you can also find a link to building instructions if you’d like to rebuild your own 42061 Telehandler set too!

My Other Truck’s a Crane

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LEGO’s seemingly endless supply of yellow Technic cranes continues with the new 42108 set released this year. Whilst the yellow eight-wheeled crane formula has been done to death, the 42108 set does include instructions for a more interesting B-Model, that being a heavy duty forklift that’s far more original than the main model it shares its pieces with.

However you guys are using TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition to do even better, first with the brilliant 42108 roll-off container truck published here last month, and now with this; newcomer oficinadelegodoandre‘s excellent rotator tow-truck, also built only from the parts found within the 42108 set.

A fully working rotating crane complete with a linear-actuator operated boom lift and working winch is the centrepiece of Andre’s alternate, whilst functioning stabilisers plus front and rear axle steering feature too.

There’s more to see at Andre’s ‘42108 B-Model’ album on Flickr via the link above, and you can read the competition rules and find out more about the prizes by clicking here!

Sukhoi Su

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Russia may have a current political direction as backward as America’s, but – like America – they sure know how to make a fighter jet. This is the Sukhoi Su-35, a multi-role air-superiority fighter conceived as the Soviet Union collapsed around it. The design survived though, and the first iteration entered service in the early ’90s whilst an updated version (this one) followed in 2007. In service in the Russian Air Force and the ‘People’s Liberation Army Air Force’ (aka the Chinese Air Force), just over 100 Su-35s are in use, with Egypt and Indonesia placing orders too.

This superb Lego recreation of the Sukhoi Su-35 comes from previous bloggee Lennart C aka Everblack, who has captured the real aircraft beautifully with some seriously smooth building techniques. There’s more of Lennart’s Su-35 to see at his photostream, where it joins a wealth of other excellent builds. Click the link above for some Russian air-superiority.

60075 Redux

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We’ve featured a few models here at TLCB that have brought an old set into the new age, however Flickr’s Thomas Selander has kinda done the opposite, taking the 60075 set from 2015 and making it rather more classic, at least in using a 1960s-’70s Volvo F88 truck as inspiration for his tipper. It’s an excellent Town build and considerably slicker than the official set it emulates, and there’s more to see at the link.

My Other Car’s a Mustang

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LEGO’s brilliant 10265 Ford Mustang set is one of the finest additions to the Creator line-up yet. That it has spawned so many B-Models too, is testament to how great a set it really is. In fact, it inspired this whole competition.

Joining a host of other builders to use 10265 as their chosen set in TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model Competition, Flickr’s monstermatou has taken the Mustang in a very different direction, recreating one of the most technologically advanced and unusual cars of all time; the glorious Citroen DS19.

Despite using only the parts from the 10265 Ford Mustang set, monstermatou has replicated the DS19’s spaceship exterior absolutely beautifully, from the roof-mounted indicators to the hidden rear wheels. The superb realism doesn’t stop with the outside either, as behind the four opening doors is a brilliant interior with a working steering wheel, a detailed engine sits underneath the opening hood, and even the trunk opens too.

Things are getting tough at the top for the competition judges, and if you’d like to enter your own B-Model into the competition (where the winner and runner up will receive some awesome prizes) there’s still plenty of time; entries close on June 30th.

Until then you can see more of monstermatou’s stunning Citroen DS19 at his photostream by clicking here, where you will not only find a huge gallery of pristine images, there is also a link to building instructions so you can build it for yourself, plus monstermatou has a whole range of other incredible B-Models to view!

Lego in Lock-Down

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Lock-down is easing here in TLCB’s home nation, but for many of you it’s still very much in force. Plus it’s not like Coronavirus has gone away, so we fully expect it to return, with the world watching on in horror, like a second Trump presidency.

However you guys have been busy during your time indoors, utilising your existing LEGO sets to create new models and maybe bag yourselves an awesome SBrick Plus Pro Pack! We’ve got three blog-worthy competition entries for you today, starting with  David Bersia’s brilliant Formula E racing car, built only from the parts found within the 42093 Technic Chevrolet Corvette.

Being electric the Corvette’s V8 engine naturally makes no appearance here, but Davide’s model does include working steering and a properly good execution of Formula E’s Gen 2 bodywork. Click here to head to Flickr to see more of Davide’s creation, where building instructions and two other Lock-Down B-Model contest entries can also be found.

You don’t need a Technic set to enter TLCB’s Lock-Down B-Model competition though, as our next two entrants demonstrate. On the left newcomer 14sandee has redeployed the pieces from the excellent 75895 Speed Champions Porsche 911 Turbo set to create his neat single-seat racer, whilst on the right previous entrant Tomik has used the 40171 Friends Hedgehog to construct, er… a hedgecopter? Points for originality with that one!

There’s more to see of 14sandee’s Porsche 911 Turbo B-Model via the link above, and Tomik’s hedgecopter on Flickr and Eurobricks, where he has published some other ingenious B-Model contest entries too…

Not a Car

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This is not a car, but it is beautiful. Modelled after a USS Brig, the ‘Europa’ features a beautifully constructed brick-built hull, complete rigging, a crimson deck (to hide the blood), a functioning capstan to raise the anchors, a working tiller-controlled rudder, and an unusual man-fornicating-with-bull figurehead design. Built by TLCB debutant TomSkippy there’s more to see at the Eurobricks ‘Pirate’ forum – click the link to set sail.