Eurobricks’ ‘Small Car Competition’ has generated some superb creations. Each measuring no more than fifteen studs wide and forty-one studs long, entries must be able to fit on the 42098 Technic Car Transporter set, yet many are still packed with Technic functionality.
This is one of our favourites, Zsolt Nagy’s ‘Red Sky’ supercar, complete with a transparent cockpit dome, working steering, a V8 engine driven by the rear wheels, and – amazingly – front and rear suspension!
You can see how Zsolt has done it at both Eurobricks and Flickr, and we’ll update you on some of the brilliant entries that we’ve received so far for TLCB’s own B-Model competition tomorrow!
Like most Soviet vehicles, the MAZ 5432 suffered from Communism’s compete ban on creative naming, but it did look rather nice. At least in Lego form it does, thanks to this beautifully constructed and remarkably well detailed Model Team replica by Flickr’s Vladimir Drozd. There’s more to see on Flickr, and you can take a look via the link above.
Children don’t grow up, their toys just get bigger. Proving this point is Daniel Church, who has built this wonderful garage scene complete with a motorcycle, lawnmower, and rotavator, which all look brilliant fun to us. If slightly more likely to remove a body part than they toys of our childhood. Head to Flickr for more!
It’s time for something rather special here at The Lego Car Blog; this is Bricksonwheels’ phenomenal Lancia Martini Historic Rally Team, formed of a a ’92 Lancia Delta Integrale Evo, an ’85 Lancia 037, and – proving Martini’s racing livery can make literally anything cool – a Fiat Ducato van, complete with tools, spares, and equipment. And each is amongst the finest examples of Lego model-making that you will ever see.
With expertly recreated liveries courtesy of fellow previous bloggee JaapTechnic, Bricksonwheel‘s creations are near perfect replicas of the stars of Lancia’s greatest era. And a Fiat van, but that’s a near perfect replica too.
Each model is built from around 2,000 pieces and includes fully detailed suspension, engine and interior, with every aspect constructed with mind-bending attention to detail.
There’s much more to see at Bricksonwheels’ Lancia Martini Historic Rally Team album on Flickr by clicking the link above, you can see the Delta Integrale’s individual appearance here at TLCB last year by clicking these words, and you can read Bricksonwheels’ interview as part of the Master Mocer Series by clicking here to learn how he creates amazing models like these.
You could win a 5-star rated SBrick Plus Pro Pack and give your Lego creations programmable bluetooth remote control!
The SBrick Plus Pro pack comes complete with wires, lights, a servo motor, an L motor, a battery pack, and colourful cases! Enter TLCB’s Lockdown B-Model Competition by building a new vehicle from the pieces of an existing LEGO set to be in with a chance of winning this awesome prize! What better way to spend Coronavirus Lock-down!
Subaru Tecnica International had an unfortunate acronym in much of the world. They didn’t change it though, unlike Toyota who renamed the MR2 in France to avoid phonetic embarrassment. Still, aside from standing for an unfortunate side affect of unprotected relations, STI meant some excellent machinery, including this 2000’s Impreza WRX STI recreated by Flickr’s Ralph Savelsberg in his trademark style. Click the link to make the jump to his photostream see more.
That’s got some clicks. If you’ve arrived here expecting to see something rather different, apologies. This is a neat Brazilian though, being the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix winner in the hands of Brazilian F1 legend Ayrton Senna. That win helped the McLaren MP4/6, powered by Honda’s RA121-E V12 engine, to claim the 1991 Constructor’s Championship and cement itself as one of the all-time greats, and it’s been recreated beautifully in Lego form by previous bloggee Alexander Paschoaletto. Head to Alex’s photostream via the link for more.
These Classic Spacemen are off to work, doing important jobs holding strange pieces of equipment close to the ground. They must enjoy it too, as you’ll never find a Classic Spaceman who isn’t smiling! Even their ride to work is a happy one, as shown here by Jerac and his simply marvellous Classic Space Bus. An opening door, vintage Technic wheels, and the obligatory satellite dish and giant spacey aerial all feature and you can hop on board (as long as you’re smiling) via the link above!
“They’re over there, on that tank made from mini-figure leg wear”. At least we hope the tracks on Tyler‘s tank are pants, and not actual mini-figure legs. Although we suppose tanks are made for killing people, so perhaps it’s appropriate. Anyway, the tank’s cuteness more than makes up for the gruesome tracks-made-of-legs thing going on. See more on Flickr!
Whilst we’re all stuck inside we want to see what you can build with your LEGO pieces locked-down, whilst in lock-down! That means creating a new vehicle from only the pieces found within an existing official LEGO set.
There are some incredible prizes on offer from the awesome guys at SBrick, the leading remote control solution in the building toy market, allowing you to control your models remotely using a smart device like a phone, tablet, gamepad, or even Chromebook, MAC or PC!
The Rules
Build us a B-Model from only the pieces found within a single official LEGO set. The set can be from any era or theme, including Technic, Creator, Town, Space, Pirates… everything except Galidor. You may also choose to use the pieces from two official LEGO sets if the RRP of each set was below $25.
Photograph and upload your B-Model to Flickr, MOCpages, Brickshelf, or Eurobricks between May 1st and June 30th 2020.
You must include the words ‘TLCB Lock-Down Competition’ or a link to this page somewhere in the creation’s title or description, so that we know you’re entering it.
You don’t actually have to be in Lock-Down to enter, although do please abide by whatever the COVID-19 advice is in your country of residence.
How to Enter
If you upload your B-Model to one of the free-to-use creation-sharing sites above with ‘TLCB Lock-Down Competition’ in the title or description our Elves will find it. You can also contact us in the usual ways or post a message on our Facebook page with a link to your creation if you want to make sure we’ve seen it!
You may enter as many creations as you like and the winners will be chosen based upon the designs that best meet our usual Submission Guidelines and our completely subjective opinions on what we think is cool.
TLCB Lock-Down B-Model Competition runs from May 1st to June 30th 2020 GMT, and no late entries will be considered.
All entries must be your own work and be built and photographed during the eight-week competition.
If you’re under the age of 18 you must get parental permission before entering the competition, as winners will need to provide TLCB and SBrick with their contact details.
TLCB and SBrick are not responsible for any additional tariffs, taxes, customs, bus tokens, or traffic tickets your country may impose on you when claiming your prizes.
The year is 1993, mini-figures come in smiling form only, and Octan sponsor just about everything. LEGO also produce some marvellous spring suspension pieces for Town sets too, with all of the above being put to excellent use on the 6648 off-road buggy set, one of three sets to feature this particular vehicular design that year.
Cue TLCB favourite Jonathan Elliott, who has reimagined 6648 some twenty-seven years later. Gone is the smiling mini-figure, Octan sponsorship, and even the marvellous spring suspension, but we still love his homage to the classic Town set. Head to Flickr to see more and party like it’s 1993.
This is a 1950s Murray Torpedo Roadmaster, a pedal car based on the Buick design of the late ’40s-early ’50s, and it might be the vehicle that we want in real life more than anything else we’ve ever featured on this website. Although we’re probably a bit fat to get in one these days.
This utterly beautiful replica of the Torpedo Roadmaster comes from Jacob Sadovich, who has built and presented his brick-built recreation of the 1950s pedal car to absolute perfection. Custom chrome, working steering, and an accurate working pedal mechanism feature, and you can jump inside for a go at Jacob’s ‘Pedal Car’ album. Unless you’re a bit fat these days…
A footballer with a drinking problem, a guy in every pub in the Midlands, and a Soviet truck maker. GAZ (Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod) have produced vehicles for almost 90 years, mostly (as with everything in the times of the Soviet Union) for the military. These days they also produce vehicles for Volkswagen, Chevrolet, and others under license, but it’s their military trucks they remain most known for, like this excellent mini-figure GAZ-66 built by Flickr’s de-marco. Clever techniques abound and there’s more to see of de-marco’s truck at his photostream – click the link above to check it out.
The Space Race was an incredible time. Not only were the two world Superpowers spending millions on things to blow one another up and poison the earth for a hundred-thousand years, they were also spending millions sending things into space. Probably so they could use it to blow one another up and poison the earth for a hundred-thousand years, but still – it was pretty cool.
It was the U.S. that got to the moon first (and is still the only nation to have done so)*, but it was actually the Soviet Union that won pretty much every other race, sending the first satellite into space, the first man, the first woman, and conducting the first EVA (extra-vehicular activity); or spacewalk to us non-astronaut types.
Of course getting there was only half the battle, as getting home again (unless you were a Soviet dog) was just as tricky. To that end the Soviets developed this in the 1970s; the remarkable Zil 4906. They may have won the Race for Space but the Americans had a much better Naming Department.
The ZIL 4906’s boring title hid its remarkable ability, being a 6×6 amphibious off-road crane designed to fit aboard a transport plane and recover the Soyuz astronaut capsules from the vast Russian wilderness.
Powered by a standard Zil 150bhp V8 the 4906’s weren’t fast, but they could go literally anywhere, with six-wheel-drive, four-wheel-steering, and two propellors with rudders for water recoveries.
This amazing Technic recreation of one of the Soviet Union’s coolest designs comes from previous bloggee Samolot, who has replicated the 4906’s incredible drivetrain brilliantly in Lego form. Two Control+ XL Motors power all six wheels, with a separate driveshaft for each side. This allows a gearbox to transfer power to the propellors when in water, whilst the L Motor that steers the front and rear axles also turns the two rudders.
A second L Motor controls the differential locks, whilst a fourth powers a compressor that builds pressure for the pneumatic crane, which the real Zil 4906 used to fish the Soyuz capsules from watery landings. A LEGO Education WeDo motor winds the crane winches and all of the above is controlled via bluetooth courtesy of LEGO’s new Powered Up Control+ system.
It’s a remarkable build and one that is definitely worth a closer look, which you can do at Eurobricks – where full build details are available, Bricksafe – which houses a complete image gallery of both Samolot’s Technic Zil 4906 and the real deal, and via the excellent video below.
YouTube Video
*Unless you believe it was filmed in a studio, the Earth is flat, and that climate change is a hoax invented by Al Gore. In which case go back to school.
