Sci-Friday

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It’s the Friday before Christmas here at The Lego Car Blog, and our Elves are starting to get all twitchy. This might be because they’re potentially a (very) distant cousin of those employed by Santa, but more likely it’s because they know that they’ll soon be shut in their cages for the Christmas break.

Whatever it is, they’re a bit off-message when it comes to cars at the moment, but no matter, because the two creations in today’s post are rather excellent.

First up (above) is Oscar Cederwall‘s ‘Vanguard Planetary Defender’, a ‘bulk fighter of the Confederacy Navy, designed to operate from both space carriers and ground bases’. It also features ‘dual tungsten rail-guns’, and whilst we don’t know what those are, we do know that if you press the lever on the back of Oscar’s spaceship some guns really do fire!

Today’s second sci-fi creation (below) forgoes real firing guns for a plethora of brick-built weaponry, which are mounted under the wings of Red Spacecat‘s ‘A-32 RAVEN Light Attack Aircraft’. In fact the rockets and missiles you see here are just a fraction of those that Red Spacecat has built for the RAVEN, which has an array of weaponry so vast it nearly matches an average Texan Republican.

There’s more to see of both builds on Flickr – head skywards via the links in the text above.

The Flying Dutchman

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Ah, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. What started as a fun piratical zombie adventure (even if it stole more than a little from ‘The Mummy’) has since become a great rotting hulk who’s primary purpose seems to be providing a vehicle for Johnny Depp to continue his dodgy impression of Keith Richards.

So too ‘The Flying Dutchman’, a ship that started as a mighty race-built galleon but has since become a great rotting hulk who’s primary purpose…

OK, we really don’t like any of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies after the first two, but to be fair to us, they are complete shit. ‘The Flying Dutchman’ is an interesting visual spectacle though, gradually returning to nature whilst ferrying souls to the underworld or some such nonsense.

The Dutchman’s organic appearance makes it a monumentally tricky ship to recreate from LEGO, but that hasn’t stopped Sebeus I of Flickr, who has taken six years (roughly the same length as the third movie) to construct this spectacular version of the ghostly vessel.

With a complete (and suitably spooky) interior, an ingeniously constructed crew of mini-figure monsters, and with no Johnny Depp in sight, Sebeus’ giant galleon is well worth a closer look. There are dozens of images arable to view at Sebeus’ ‘Flying Dutchman’ Flickr album – click on the link above to take a trip to Davy Jones’ locker.

Super Blue*

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Suggested by a reader via our Facebook page this is Crowkillers’ latest supercar, the somewhat oddly-named ‘Alucard GT’. Constructed entirely from unmodified LEGO pieces Crowkiller’s newest creation is packed with working functions, including an eight-speed working paddle-shift gearbox, complete with a D-N-R rotary dial.

That amazing transmission is hooked up to a detailed V8 engine up front which drives all four wheels (or the other way around seeing as this is an unpowered LEGO Technic model), there’s all-wheel independent suspension, working steering, and gull-wing doors too. There’s much more to see of Crowkillers’ latest Technic Supercar via the Bricksafe gallery and you can watch a video of the model’s features by clicking here.

*Today’s slightly obscure title track. And you thought we weren’t cultured.

Beast Mode

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Here at TLCB we’re yet to be convinced by any of the multitude of supercar start-ups founded upon the dreams (and little else) of millionaires.

Routinely released in ‘digital concept form’ (i.e. they don’t exist), these affronts to engineering are invariably touted to have somewhere near a zillion horsepower and a 300mph top speed, despite being based upon bits of old Lotus and someone else’s engine, and are usually named by someone with a mental age of four.

Today’s start-up supercar manages a clean sweep of the above, being based on the Lotus Elise or Ariel Atom, using a Honda or Cosworth engine, and bearing the name ‘Rezvani Beast Alpha’. TLCB’s scepticism remains undimmed…

Still, this Technic recreation of the $200K re-bodied Ariel Atom is something to behold. Built by previous bloggee Lachlan Cameron (who also built the cars found in the two links above) this Lego Rezvani Beast Alpha is a properly fine Technic Supercar, featuring remotely controlled steering and drive, working suspension, opening doors, and front and rear LED lights, amongst a host of other functions.

There’s more to see of Lachlan’s Rezvani Beast via both Flickr and the Eurobricks forum – click the links to jump to the complete gallery of images and build specs.

Merry Mining

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It’s nearly Christmas! So in celebration here are a pair of models that have exactly nothing to do with the festive period. Built by Michael A they’re a 300-ton mining excavator and a dump truck semi. Each is an excellent mini-figure scale build and there’s more to see on Flickr via the link.

Anthem Air

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LEGO’s own 42078 Mack Anthem set is the flagship of the H1 2018 Technic range. With nearly 2,600 pieces it’s one of the biggest Technic sets ever, but that hasn’t stopped Paliason deciding to go even bigger. This is what he’s built, a simply astonishing Mack Anthem 70″ sleeper truck complete with a Landoll 825E-AG lowboy trailer, upon which is spectacular Sikorsky H19 Chickasaw U.S Air Force rescue helicopter.

Each of the three builds is a work of art in its own right, featuring beautiful custom decals and a variety of functions. The Mack Anthem includes a piston engine underneath a tilting hood, a detailed cab interior inside opening doors, and working steering, whilst the Landoll trailer behind it features a working detachable gooseneck and side extensions.

The amazing Sikorsky H19 rescue helicopter adds a pair of Power Functions motors that turn the main and tail rotors, and features one of the coolest cockpits we’ve ever seen in LEGO form.

There’s much more to see of Paliason’s incredible trio of creations at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Make the jump to Eurobricks by clicking here, and if you’d like to see how LEGO themselves did it way back in 1990 you can read our review of the classic Model Team 5590 Heli-Transport set by clicking here.

Stranger Vans

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Normally amongst the most mundane vehicles on the roads, vans don’t often appear here at The Lego Car Blog. Today though, we have two, and they’re strange ones at that.

First up is an admittedly boring 1980s Chevrolet G-Series panel van, although it has been wonderfully recreated in 6-wide mini-figure scale. However it’s a van which stars in the Netflix sci-fi series ‘Stranger Things’ and it really does do something strange. Click the link to find out what, and you can see more of the superb model pictured above courtesy of Andrea Lattanzio (aka Norton74) by clicking here.

Today’s second van doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary but it was, for America at least, a strange vehicle. This mid-’60s Chevrolet ‘forward control’ van mounted the driver and controls right at the front of the chassis, leaving more space in the back for carrying things. Common in Europe and Asia, this design never really took off in the ‘states, which is a shame as we think Chevrolet’s 1960s efforts looked pretty cool. This one comes from Tim Henderson of Flickr, it’s also built in 6-wide mini-figure scale, and there’s more of it to see at Tim’s photostream by clicking here.

VTEC Just Kicked In Yo!

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A visit to a car video on YouTube is becoming a perilous affair. The comments are increasingly full of ‘fanboi’s, fanatically raving about cars they’ve probably never even sat in whilst proclaiming all others are vastly inferior.* Few cars seem to suffer from this affliction more than this one, the amazing Honda S2000.

Launched in 1999 Honda took the lightweight roadster formula re-started a decade earlier by Mazda’s MX-5 and, well… Hondarised it. Honda were at the top of their game in the late 1990s and the 2litre, 240bhp, 9000rpm naturally aspirated engine they fitted to their new sports car was an absolute triumph.

The numbers from the engine were astonishing, which – frankly – the rest of the car wasn’t quite able to match (as anyone who experienced VTEC kicking in half way round a wet roundabout found out…), but nevertheless the S2000 became a cult car overnight, a status which – partly thanks to the aforementioned YouTube commenters – shows no signs of abating.

However despite this revelry the Honda S2000 remains an unusual car to be built in Lego form. In fact a delve into the murky archives here at TLCB Towers suggests it has only ever appeared here once before. Previous bloggee Simon Przepiorka, who’s making a name for himself here at TLCB with his brilliant slightly-larger-than-Speed-Champions sports cars, today doubles our S2000 count with this excellent recreation of the first generation ‘AP1’.

Not only does it look fantastic accurate inside and out, Simon’s model includes an opening bonnet under which lies a realistic ‘F20C’ engine, a superb interior, and posable ‘steered’ wheels too. There’s a whole lot more to see of Simon’s superb Honda S2000 AP1 on Flickr – Click the link above to feel VTEC kick in yo!

*Although said comments will likely surmise this in far less syllables.

LEGO Technic 2019 | Set Previews!

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Hot on the heels of our 2019 Speed Champions line-up preview and the awesome looking Technic 42096 Porsche 911 RSR set scooped here last month, it’s time to reveal the rest of what our Elves found during their traditional Christmastime sneak around The LEGO Company’s HQ. Yup, today we can share the complete H1 2019 LEGO Technic range!

42088 Inspection Lift

The entry point to the Technic range for 2019, 42088 is aimed at builders aged just 7+, with 155 pieces and a sub-£10 price tag. As has become the norm for Technic sets even at this scale, 42088 features a bit more visual detail than the range has historically used, but pleasingly it still features a lovely crane boom mechanism that utilises a worm gear to provide elevation. A tow truck B-model deploys the parts to achieve the same function and we think either build is a fine way to kick-off Technic for a younger builder.

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42091 Police Pursuit & 42090 Getaway Truck

Unlike these two…

42091 and 42090 are the usual two pull-back motor powered sets that join the Technic range each year. Like past years they feature absolutely nothing beyond their pull-back motorisation and, like past years, they are somewhat aesthetically challenged, despite the inclusion of a wealth of colourful stickers. Each set contains around 120 pieces and the two models can be combined to create something even more hideous should you feel the need to. 42091 and 42090 will sell very well we suspect, but if you’re going to buy a child an entry point into Technic, you could do so much better…

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42089 Power Boat

For less money than either of the two monstrosities above you could have this; a rather excellent looking power boat, complete with a working single cylinder engine that spins the propellor as the boat is pushed along. 174 pieces, some neat stickers, and a hydroplane B-model complete the reasons why 42089 is vastly better than the Getaway Truck and whatever that police thing is supposed to be, and it’ll reach stores in January.

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42092 Rescue Helicopter

Arriving just in time to rescue countless amateur snowboarders this ski season comes 42092, the only aircraft in the 2019 Technic line-up. With just over 300 pieces, 42092 increases the number of working functions whilst retaining an 8+ target age, with working main and tail rotors, a functioning winch, opening side and tail doors, and featuring the usual colourful stickers. 42092 is also sort-of-mini-figure-scale, and includes a stretcher piece originally found in the Town range with which to evacuate broken snowboarders. A slightly odd jet plane B-model can also be built, but that can’t rescue anyone. Get your hands on 42092 when it lands in January.

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42093 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Continuing LEGO’s genius decision to partner with real-world auto-makers comes 42093, a 579-piece Technic version of Chevrolet’s mighty Corvette ZR1. Working steering and a miniature V8 engine make appearances, and 42093 uses bricks to replicate the Corvette’s shape rather than just stickers (although these are present) which we rather like too. A hot rod forms the B-model and we expect 42093 to cost around £35/$40 when it reaches stores next year.

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42095 RC Stunt Racer

Dropping two-hundred pieces but adding Power Functions motors, an IR receiver, and a controller is 42095, a very weird (but probably very fun) ‘Stunt Racer’. Each of the two large motors separately powers one of 42095’s tracks, giving the model skid-steering and likely excellent cat/Elf chasing ability. A B-model so similar we wonder why LEGO bothered can also be built, and you’ll be able to terrorise your pets for around £75/$80 from January 2019.

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42094 Tracked Loader

And now for our favourite; 42094 Tracked Loader. With 827 pieces but no motors, 42094 should be good value at around £65/$70 and it includes the most technical sophistication of the H1 2019 line-up. Linear actuators are driven via hand-powered wheels mounted at the rear of the loader, controlling the boom elevation and grabby claw up front. 42094 also includes suspended tracks, a rear winch, a rotating cabin, and a B-model that looks very nearly as good as the main vehicle. 42094 looks to be great addition to the 2019 Technic line-up and may even give that Porsche 911 RSR a run for our money.

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Which is your favourite new Technic set of 2019? Let us know in the comments, and you can read our reviews of dozens of LEGO’s past Technic sets via the Set Review Library here.

Dumped

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It’s nearly Relationship Transfer Deadline Day, the last day before the holidays when a relationship can terminated as ‘no-one likes a Christmas dumping’. Failure to meet this deadline means that you have to stay with your partner until early January so as not to ruin the festive period.

To mark the approach of this infamous day Damian Plesniak has constructed a vehicle capable of a sizeable dumping, a whole 2.5kgs of dumping in fact, thanks to its XL driven linear-actuator tipping bed. Said dump can also be triggered remotely* thanks to LEGO’s infrared system, which also controls the Power Functions 8×4 drive and steering.

There’s more to see of Damian’s excellent RC Technic 8×4 dump truck on both Flickr and at the Eurobricks forum, where you can also find a video of the truck in action. Click the links above to take a pre-Christmas dump.

*Do not use this method in real life. You’re better than that.

You Spin Me Right Round*

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There have been countless versions of the ‘Spinner’ police cruiser from the 1982 Philip K. Dick epic Blade Runner built in Lego form, yet builders always seem able to find new ways of perfecting the iconic hover-car. This latest version is the work of Davidup of Flickr who has used LEGO’s large window pieces to great effect to create the Spinner’s canopy. A highly detailed interior lies underneath it and there’s more to see of the complete build at Davidup’s Flickr album – head to the future in 1982 via the link above.

*Today’s appropriately-’80s title song.

Ferrari 312 | Picture Special

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In the mid-1960’s Formula 1 was, perhaps surprisingly, nearly as restrictive technically as it is today. Engines had to be just 1.5 litres or less, which meant they were often comically smaller than those available to the general public. In 1965 the teams requested more power, and to their almost complete surprise the governing body responded by doubling the allowed engine capacity for 1966. We can’t image the FIA being that responsive today…

The Three Litre era of Formula 1 was born as the existing teams scrabbled to take advantage of the new regulations. Ferrari were lucky, having a larger V12 engine available to them from their sports car racing programme, which they modified to keep within the maximum 3000cc allowed and shoved in the back of their F1 chassis. It was a bit of bodge-job though, being heavy and down on torque, and thus the resulting ‘312’ racer wasn’t a Championship winner, taking only three race wins from thirty-eight starts.

With limited success the 312 is sadly most famous for the tragedy that struck Lorenzo Bandini in the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. On the 82nd lap Bandini caught the guardrail whilst entering the Marina and his car overturned, rupturing a fuel line as it did so. The shower of sparks ignited the car, and with the straw bales lining the track also catching fire Bandini was trapped in the inferno. Marshalls managed to pull him from the car, but he died in hospital a few days later.

Ferrari continued to race the 312 with little success for several more years, with no money to develop a new car and the Cosworth DFV engine used by many other teams winning absolutely everything. Eventually Enzo Ferrari sold a stake of his business to FIAT, and in 1970 used the money to develop a new purpose-built flat-12 engine for Formula 1 racing, finally returning the team to a race winning position.

The 312 was quickly forgotten, but whilst it certainly wasn’t one of Ferrari’s more successful designs, it was – as you can see here – surely one of their most beautiful. The impeccable Model Team replica of the 312 shown in these images comes from Andre Pinto, who has captured every detail of the 312’s the suspension, interior, bodywork, and the (spectacular) V12 engine to create one of the finest classic Formula 1 cars ever built in Lego form.

There’s more to see of Andre’s beautifully photographed 1967 Ferrari 312 at both his Flickr album and at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Take a look via the links above, and if you’d like to hear what that slightly bodged 3.0 V12 sounds like, take a listen here.

Rainbow Rods

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We were going to title this post with something to do with whatever country’s flag goes red, blue, yellow, but it seems said colours aren’t a flag of anywhere (correct us in the comments if your country can claim it!). Upside-down Colombia is as close as we got, and we can’t make a title out of that. No matter, because Johnni D‘s tri-colour hot rods a lovely anyway, and there’s more to see of his upside-down Colombian creations on Flickr at the link above.

JCB 5CX Wastemaster | Picture Special

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Every so often a creation comes along that shifts what we thought possible from LEGO bricks. This is one such creation. Created over the course of a year by Technic-building legend Sariel this is a fully working replica of JCB’s 5CX Wastemaster backhoe, powered by pneumatics, eleven Power Functions motors, and two third-party SBricks.

Underneath the brilliant Technic exterior are nine motors that drive all four wheels, the three-mode steering (two-wheel, all-wheel and crab), backhoe arm rotation and traverse, and powering a combination of pneumatic cylinders and linear actuators to control both the front and rear arms and their respective buckets. A further two motors power the pneumatic ‘remote control’, compressing the air which travels down twelve separate hoses to the model itself.

A motorised remotely rotating driver’s seat and a suite of LED lights from third-party lighting specialists Brickstuff complete the electronics, making this 2.4kg, 75 stud-long masterpiece one of the most technically advanced Technic creations to date. There is much more to see of Sariel’s amazing remote control JCB at the Eurobricks forum, on Flickr, and at Sariel’s excellent website, you can watch it in action via the video below, and if you’d like to build your own model with many of the features of this one we highly recommend LEGO’s own 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 set, which share its wheels and amazing three-mode steering with Sariel’s fantastic creation.

YouTube Video

Stack-a-DAF

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We are going to have a very fat Elf in TLCB Towers shortly…

Arian Janssens has appeared here at The Lego Car Blog numerous times over the years, more often than not with his fantastic Model Team classic DAF trucks. But how to store a multitude of large LEGO models without them over-running the house? Fortunately the answer lies in how these trucks are transported in real life. Being designed to carry heavy loads, trucks are able to transport one another, and can be stacked on trailers several trucks high.

Arian’s ‘Jan de Rooy Transport’ DAF FAS 2800 shows how this looked back in the late ’70s to early ’80s, with an FT 2800 sleeper-cab tractor, an FA 1200 chassis-cab truck, and an FT 1600 tractor in transport behind it. Each is superb model in its own right (hence the Elf that found this is due to receive four meal tokens, to much jealousy amongst its co-workers), built with incredible attention to detail and further enhanced with realistic custom decals.

There’s much more to see of Arian’s DAFs-in-transit at his album on Flickr – take a closer look via the link in the text above.

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Sci-Friday

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The Flying Dutchman

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Super Blue*

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Beast Mode

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Merry Mining

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Anthem Air

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Stranger Vans

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VTEC Just Kicked In Yo!

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