Identify Any Brick, In the Blink of an Eye!

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Back in April this year we stumbled across a very cool, OK, massively nerdy project. LEGO have produced a vast array of pieces over the years, everything from a flaming sword to a Deadpool duck head. No, we don’t know why either. Most of LEGO’s pieces however, are rather useful, but with so many made how do you know what it is you have (and need more of)? Piqabrick have the answer.

“Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, Piqabrick instantly identifies Lego bricks’ code, simplifying the long-lasting operations of searching and sorting.

Piqabrick easily and quickly identifies any Lego brick providing you the ID code and color code. How? Thanks to our proprietary computer vision technology. Piqabrick “looks at” a brick to identify it, just like we already do… but better!”

Sounds cool right? OK, not cool – massively nerdy again, but really bloody useful. Better still, Piqabrick has no monthly or yearly fee: it’s free for a lifetime.

If you’d like to find out more about how Piqabrick works and pledge so that the tool can become a reality then visit the Piqabrick Kickstarter campaign via the link below!

Piqabrick on Kickstarter

Mazzive

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This is a MAZ-535; massive, a little aesthetically challenging, and able to get really dirty. Just like your Mom. It comes from Lego-building legend Sariel (whose Build a LEGO Mustang book we reviewed here last week) and it’s a triumph of Technic engineering.

Underneath the wonderfully accurate Model Team exterior, complete with opening doors, engine hatches and LED head and tail lights, is a fully working replica of the MAZ’s incredible 8×8 drivetrain.

Four Power functions XL motors drive all eight wheels, the front four of which turn on separate radiuses. All eight wheels feature planetary hubs and are suspended via pendular axles, allowing Sariel’s model to go anywhere it is possible for a Lego creation to go, or to pull a chair across a wooden floor according to the accompanying video.

A working V12 piston engine is mounted inside, along with a pneumatically operated high/low gearbox providing the model with two speeds (slow, and really slow), and the motorised drive, steering, lighting and gearbox can all be controlled remotely thanks to a third-party SBrick bluetooth control.

There’s much more to see of this amazing creation at Sariel’s MAZ-535 Flickr album, on the Eurobricks forum, or via the video below. Click the links to take a look, plus you can read Sariel’s interview here at The Lego Car Blog by clicking here.

YouTube Video

 

Road of Bones

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The R504 Kolyma Highway, also known as the ‘Road of Bones’, is one of the grimmest construction projects in history. It’s not some distant relic either, being completed in 1953, with the bones of those that died building it (who were forced to do so under Stalinist Communism) laid underneath.

Chris Perron‘s ‘Ridge Ranger’ rover is far from grim, being a brightly-coloured homage to the concept art of Darren Bartley. It does however feature some ingenious (but rather grim if you’re a LEGO mini-figure) wheels, constructed from dozens of dismembered mini-figure arms. Yuk!

We genuinely can’t figure out how Chris has built said wheels, but they mean his rover drives upon a road of bones wherever it goes. See if you can work out how he’s done it via the link above, although we bet your mini-figures are hoping you can’t…

Flight of the Phoenix

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MOCpages isn’t quite dead yet. Most of our Elves stationed at the once-default creation sharing site have been redeployed elsewhere as – thanks to the site’s frequent outages – the community has all but departed it. However, proving that gems can still be discovered in the abandoned mine is yamato yukimasa, making his TLCB debut with this wonderful six-engine twin-boom bomber. It’s a huge creation featuring some lovely building techniques and there’s more to see on MOCpages (if it’s working of course) via the link above. Take a look whilst we feed a very hungry Elf that’s thankful to have finally come home…

More Than Meets the Eye

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It’s a happy day for the Elves here at TLCB Towers as a number of them found these brilliant Transformers Autobots by Flickr’s Alex Jones (aka Orion Pax). Normally this would have led to an Elf fight, but in a rare moment of Elven cooperation they approached us with their finds collectively, in the hope that Transformers cartoons would be played. Their peaceful approach has been rewarded, with the discovering Elves duly awarded a meal token each and all Elves here at the Towers now contentedly watching Transformers cartoons. You can thank Alex for the harmony via the link above, where you can find his excellent transforming Ironhide, Cosmos, Powerglide, Mirage, Hoist, Jazz, Blaster, and Bumblebee Autobots.

Made of More

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Ireland’s most famous export, Guinness has been a fixture of bars around the world for over 250 years. It has therefore probably been responsible for more fights, more babies, and more drunken singing than any other product in history, and the world is all the better for that.

Getting Guinness around the world is not quite as important as it used to be, with the beer now brewed in nearly 50 counties, however Ireland remains its home, which is a country where this incredible Guinness tanker truck by Flickr’s jarekwally would almost certainly never be located.

Ireland’s roads are tiny, twisty and laced with sheep, making them wholly unsuited to a truck like this, but we don’t mind because jarekwally’s build looks spectacular.

There’s more to see of his stunning Guinness truck/tanker trailer at his photostream – head to the bar via the link above and pour a pint…

Ploughing On

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This site was terribly sad to report the death of truck building legend Ingmar Spijkhoven earlier this year, after losing his fight with motor neurone disease, an illness that currently has with no cure. Several of his fellow builders have been paying tribute to Ingmar in the most appropriate way; by building incredible trucks inspired by his designs. Dirk Klijn is one of them, and has developed this superb snow plough from Ingmar’s ‘T12’ truck.

Based on Ingmar’s original design, Dirk’s truck includes remote control drive and steering (operable via bluetooth thanks to a third-party SBrick), a pneumatic compressor to position the plough blade, a working salt spreader, and all-wheel-suspension. Dirk’s model will be on show at the Lego World Utrecht show alongside several Ingmar tributes and you can see more of the build on Flickr via the link above, plus you can see all of Ingmar’s incredible trucks to feature here over the years via the search bar on this site.

The Lego Steam Company

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Extinction Rebellion wouldn’t like this. Steampunk, that odd mashup of Victorian tech applied to modern inventions, is thankfully pure whimsy. Sure the brass, iron and wood look damn cool, but that’s a whole lotta coal, and however many times the orange man-child in charge of the free world puts the word ‘clean’ in front of it, coal just isn’t.

Fortunately most of the world (we said most, and we’re looking at you China…) have moved off burning the black stuff, and its use in the modern world is now solely a retro throwback for train and traction engine enthusiasts. Which in a way makes dioramas such as this one all the more magical, as coal is now largely a historical relic.

This gorgeous (and enormous) steampunk display has been built for the Lego World Utrecht 2019 show by builders Brick Rebel and Monstrophonic and is certainly the most stunning display we’ve seen this year. An assortment of delightfully impractical vehicles feature, including airships, a monorail, a steamboat, and even an elevator, all powered by coal in the imagination and by Power Functions electric motors in the display, bringing this spectacular collaboration to life.

There’s loads more to see of this incredible display at both Brick Rebel and Monstrophonic’s photostreams via the links above, plus you can see their ‘Lego Steam Company’ build in person at the Lego World Utrecht 2019 show.

Pieces of Eighty

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OK, we’re not sure how many pieces Flickr’s Robert4168/Garmadon has actually used to build ‘Montroy’s Flagship’, but it’s not many. What we are sure of is that Robert has demonstrated brilliantly that with just a handful of bricks you can create something blogworthingly wonderful. See more at the link.

No Wheels

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Much like the musical success of will.i.am or the appeal of the Kardashians, we really don’t understand ‘dieselpunk’. However unlike those two abominations, we do think dieselpunk – whatever the term actually represents – is rather good.

This fabulous dieselpunk hoverbike comes from the mind of previous bloggee Vince_Toulouse and has been built for the ‘Future Ride’ competition at LEGO Ideas. It follows yesterday’s weirdly-wheeled motorcycles that were designed for the same contest, but Vince’s concept does away with the need for wheels altogether.

With some properly inventive parts usage we think Vince’s might be the pick of the lot so far and there’s more to see of his dieselpunk ‘Sky Rider Special’ on Flickr via the hyperlink in his name above. It’s a much much better link than that will.i.am one…

Weird Wheels

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The wheel has been round with an axle at its centre ever since it was invented. The formula has remained this way for millennia (apart from the best forgotten Austin Allegro of course), because, well… any other method would be stupid.

Such logic doesn’t apply to concept car designers though, who regularly seem to devise a way of complicating the simplest and most reliable invention in the history of mankind.

So it is with today’s two creations, each of which applies some concept car designer madness to their aesthetic. First up (above) is BobDeQuatre‘s ‘Harley Davidson E-Wanderer’, an electric motorcycle concept built for a ‘Future Harley Davidson’ contest on the LEGO Ideas platform. Axles have clearly been banned in the future as Bob’s motorcycle does away with them altogether in favour of a set up that looks far cooler. See more of his E-Wanderer concept at the link.

Today’s second bike concept comes from Sheo of Flickr, who has not only removed the axle, but also any semblance of roundness too. We assume the track thingumy that replaces the wheels is actually two separately rotating pieces otherwise this ‘Infinity’ hydrogen fuel cell concept won’t be going anywhere at all. Deceptively large, Sheo’s creation includes some awesome brick-built lettering and a slightly terrifying model/rider to accompany it, and there’s more to see via the link above.

Build a LEGO Mustang | Book Review

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Lego-building legend Sariel has appeared here multiple times over the years. He’s part our our ‘Become a Pro‘ series, is the author of some excellent Lego books, and his beautiful fully remote controlled Mustang GT350 is one of the the finest models we’ve ever published.

Today we’re privileged to share a piece of work that combines all three of the areas above, as the awesome guys at No Starch Press sent us a copy of their new book written by Sariel; ‘Build a LEGO Mustang‘. And not just any Mustang either, it’s the same glorious 1960s GT350 fastback that first appeared here almost two years ago, with remote control drive and steering, LED lights, a 2-speed transmission, opening doors, hood and trunk, and a V8 engine. So, what’s it like?

Firstly, as with all the No Starch Press Lego products we’ve reviewed, ‘Build a Lego Mustang’ is a very well published book. High quality, glossy, and with excellent full colour imagery throughout. Unlike previous publications though, ‘Build a Lego Mustang’ is not coffee table art, a Lego history, or varied model showcase. Instead it’s an instruction manual, detailing the 420 steps required to recreate Sariel’s Mustang masterpiece.

Running to 110 pages, Sariel’s book provides the building process to create his amazing Ford Mustang GT350 for yourself, using a presentation and process that will be familiar to anyone who has built an official LEGO set. Like LEGO’s own instructions, ‘Build a Lego Mustang’ includes a complete parts inventory at the start, followed by the traditional ‘spot the difference’ steps that turn a pile of bricks into a complete model. Continue reading →

Battle at the School Gates

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Iiiiin the red corner, weighing in at 21,780 lbs, all the way from South Africa, it’s Kate, in the Paramount Maraaaaauder! Aaaaand in the green corner, from Russia, it floats like a… I dunno – but it really does float folks – it’s Julia in the amphibious Sheeeerp ATV!

These two slabs of off-road equipment come from Pixel Fox of Flickr, who has added them to his ever-increasing garage of brilliantly-built mini-figure 4x4s.

Both real vehicles were designed for very particular purposes, with the Marauder as an armoured transport for military applications in urban environments and the Sherp ATV for reaching the most inhospitable places on earth, even if that means crossing open water.

Such credentials make them slightly over-engineered for civilian use, however neither would look out of place at the school gates close to TLCB Towers, where AMG G-Wagons, Range Rovers, and Bentley Bentayga’s all fight for the title of most over-the-top school run vehicle. And if you fancy a Marauder to keep your precious children safe on the way to school – as Kate has done – then you can, as it really is available as a road-legal civilian version. And you thought the Hummer was stupid…

Our money’s on Julia in the Sherp though, because she can escape by crossing the ornamental lake. View the battle for school run supremacy via the links above and place your bets!

 

Chevy C10

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Not all American pick-up trucks are pointlessly-enormous, over-engined yet under-engineered projections of machismo. This is the Chevrolet C10, a compact and utilitarian vehicle for actually picking stuff up and moving it about. Which is probably why Chevrolet don’t make it anymore. No matter, Simon Przepiorka has remembered the C10, and he’s added a few tasteful mods too. See more of his excellent 8-wide recreation of the 1970s Chevy on Flickr via the link.

Czech Mate

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We are SO BORED of Brexit. Every day, all day, people shouting at one another. Racism, classism, elitism… every ‘ism’ you could wish for in one painfully tedious and never-ending argument.

So whatever your political persuasion (and as Americans make up the largest nationality of our readership we suspect the answer is probably this), here’s a celebration of European achievement in the face of considerable adversity.

This is the Tatra T600 ‘Tatraplan’, an almost spectacularly futuristic design produced by Tatra from 1948 from within a country battered by war and then shackled by the yoke of Communism thanks to a coup d’état that took place in the same year the car launched.

Unfortunately Czech Communism lasted considerably longer than the T600 (right up until the Velvet Revolution of 1989), by which point Tatra had almost completely wound down car production to focus on its (excellent) heavy-duty trucks, but we look upon the quirky Tatra with considerably more favour than the Communist regime that ruled during its production run.

The T600 was a large (six seat) family car powered by a 2-litre flat-four engine, featuring a monocoque chassis and with a wonderful streamlined body. Just over 6,000 units were produced during its three-year production run and the whole TLCB team would take one over a typical modern family car (which are mostly as boring as Brexit) in heartbeat.

This lovely Technic recreation of the Tatra T600 comes from Kent Kashiwabara of Flickr, and not only has he captured the car’s beautiful lines rather well in Technic form, he’s also given his model a flat-four engine, working steering, and full suspension underneath. There’s more to see of Kent’s excellent T600 on Flickr via the link above, which is where we’ll be pretending we live somewhere else other than the UK right now….