All vehicles with six evenly-spaced wheels are cool. Create the wheels yourself with a bucket of Technic pins and some grey dishes and your model will be sub-zero cool. Flickr’s David Hensel has done just that, using the Force, ancient magic, or the tears of unicorns to hold them together. Probably all three. There’s more to see of David’s ‘2780 Moon Rover’ and the six remarkable wheels on which it rolls by clicking the link above.
After the last few days’ weirdness we’re back to a more usual form of transportation. But what a beautiful form of transportation it is! This is a 1957 Harley Davidson Sportster XL motorbike, and it’s been recreated to near perfection by Maxime Cheng of Flickr.
Harley Davidson launched their Sportster line of motorcycles in 1957, making this version the very first, powered by a 40bhp 900cc V-Twin engine which was larger than many European car engines of the time, but in a smallish sporty frame.
It was a bit of a departure for Harley Davidson, whose customers typically favoured big, heavy lumbering beasts because, well, America. However the invasion of lighter, smaller, British motorcycles after World War 2 forced Harley to react, and although disliked by some of the brand’s hardcore fans at the time the Sportster was successful enough to merit a continuous production run since 1957, and the Sportster is still available in the Harley Davidson range today.
This gorgeous Model Team style recreation of the first of the Sportster line captures those early bikes brilliantly, and it’s been photographed beautifully too. There are lots more images to see at Maxime’s 1957 Harley Davidson Sportster XL album – click the link above to head over to Flickr to vie the complete set.
We don’t know what has got into the Elves recently but everything they’re finding is a bit weird. Still, at least this creation has got wheels. And tracks. And a rail gun / rocket launcher / giant laser thingumy / drop-ship landing pad…
Apparently this is a Utility Platform Vehicle (UPV), and it appears that can perform more functions than a Swiss army knife. A spacey Land Rover Defender if you will. Only probably more reliable.
It’s the work of Flickr’s ZCerberus and you can check it out in various configurations by visiting his photostream. Click the link above for all the images.
Uh Oh! Air Pirates! You know, pirates… but in the air! That’s about all we’ve got for this piratical airship from Ted Andes, so it’s probably best to head straight to Flickr. Alternatively, as is often the case when we don’t know what’s going on, here’s some completely unrelated illiness.
Ah SHIPtember, another tenuously-titled sci-fi month within the online Lego community of which we know absolutely nothing. Well, apart from that the ‘SHIP’ bit of the annual wordplay means ‘Seriously Huge Investment in Parts’.
Stephan Niehoff can surely attest to that with this incredible, and absolutely enormous, 118 stud long behemoth, the ‘AC 240 Brutus’ gunboat. Created in stunning detail the Brutus apparently belongs in the Star Citizen Universe, which is sadly another subject about which we know absolutely nothing.
As you can tell, we suck at sci-fi. Fortunately the other Lego blogs are far nerdier than TLCB so you can expect full details and an elaborate back-story to appear elsewhere before long. In the meantime you can check out Stephan’s remarkable build on Flickr – click the link above to go for a good long SHIP.
But not the usual kind. This is a Khagaan Land Carrier, a vehicle from deep within the mind of Lego-engineering genius Mahjqa, and it is, just like your Mom, ludicrously massive. Constructed from an estimated 25,000 parts, measuring well over a meter long, and weighing 9kg, Mahjqa’s creation was a truly huge undertaking, requiring three months to reach completion and a further two for each of the remote controlled vehicles on the deck.
The whole rig is itself remote controlled, driven by four powered caterpillar tracks mounted on rotating bogies, and is also fitted with a remotely operable crane, full LED lighting, plus a powered lift to enable the vehicles carried by the Khagaan to ascend and descend between the carrier deck and the ground beneath it.
There’s a whole lot more to see of Mahjqa’s incredible build at both Flickr and the Eurobricks discussion forum, but the only way to really appreciate the scale and engineering complexity of this remarkable machine is to watch in action.
Fortunately Mahjqa is one of the most talented Lego movie-makers in the business, and he’s produced a genuinely exceptional video showcasing the Khagaan and its support vehicles, plus some behind-the-scenes footage of how the amazing shoot was put together.
Click the links above to join the discussion on Eurobricks and to see the Khagaan’s full image gallery on Flickr, but don’t leave this page without watching the video below first…
YouTube Video
Famously unkillable, Toyota’s Hilux pick-up is now in its eighth generation. This is a fourth gen, pictured here somewhere on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast (probably), and beautifully recreated in Lego form by previous bloggee and Town-scale off-road wizard Pixel Fox. There’s more to see of his excellent 6-wide Hilux on Flickr via the link, where you can also find a wealth of other brilliantly replicated off-roaders.
If you’re going to tow a shed with wheels behind you to a field where you have to crap in a bucket, you may as well do it in something cool. This 1956 Pontiac Catalina certainly fulfils that brief, and the dinky caravan in tow doesn’t look too bad either. See more of both courtesy of LegoEng on Flickr.
The Lego Car Blog Elves have a long and chequered history with remote control vehicles. Regularly chased, squashed, and manhandled by one of their number at the controls of an RC creation, they only have themselves to blame. Unless we do it of course.
However if they’re going to be run over by a remotely controlled Lego model it may as well be by a vehicle they like, and we expect this brutal-looking Charger-esque supercharged muscle car is the Elves’ very favourite of all the creations that have mowed them down.
Built by previous bloggee Paave this RC masterpiece not only looks the part, it’s packed with cool functions too. Remote control drive (by two L Motors) and steering (via a Medium Motor) of course feature, plus rather cleverly the supercharger belt also spins. There’s working suspension front and rear, positive caster angle, opening and locking doors, hood and trunk, and the bodywork is completely removable from the chassis.
There’s lots more to see of Paave’s superb Technic muscle car via MOCpages, Brickshelf and Eurobricks where you can also watch a video of the model’s features in action – click the links to check it out.
Ah Canada. The United States’ slightly boring neighbour. Home of singing-horse Celine Dion, the catchy pop of Carly Ray Jepsen, and perennial annoyance that is Justin Bieber. Fortunately they also know how to make some cool stuff up there, thanks almost entirely to transportation giant Bombardier.
Founded in the 1930s Bombardier began by making snowmobiles, and have since expanded to build ski-doos, trains, ATVs and aircraft. It’s the latter we have here, in the form of a Canadair CL-215 water-bombing amphibious plane. Designed in the late 1960s to operate at low speeds and in tricky winds, the CL-215 was sold to eleven countries for fire-fighting and search and rescue operations, with 125 units produced until the design was replaced in 1990.
This lovely replica of the Canadair CL-215 comes from previous bloggee Dornbi of Flickr and he’s captured the unusual shoulder-mounted engine configuration of the aircraft brilliantly. There’s more of the build to see at Dornbi’s photostream – click the link above to drop the world’s biggest water bomb.
It’s a dirty double today at The Lego Car Blog! First up (above) is TLCB regular _Tiler‘s wonderful 7-wide lifted 1975 Ford F-250, complete with beautifully chromed bumper and grille pieces and some marvellous Technic balloon tyres.
The second model in today’s double-helping of rough-riding fun comes from previous bloggee de-marco, with this supremely neat 5-wide classic Ford Bronco-esque off-roader, which has been cunningly constructed from bricks placed almost entirely sideways.
There’s more to see of each creation on Flickr – check them out via the links above whilst we congratulate ourselves on making it the whole way through this innuendo-strewn post without referencing your Mom.
But probably the nicest crane-train thingumy we’ve ever seen. Plus we like trains, and we like cranes, so it’s appearing here. Dario Minisini is the builder and there’s more to see of this lovely mini-figure scale build on Flickr.
I don’t wanna talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food-trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!
Much like the aforementioned medieval altercation, it looks like the French have got the better of us English-types in Sebeus I‘s galleon battle. There’s more to see of this beautifully epic scene on Flickr – click the link above to join the fray.
Ford’s sold-out GT has got everyone talking. By everyone, mostly we mean America, where not having a V8 is still seen as bit of a novelty. Nevertheless, the new GT doesn’t have a V8, instead being fitted with a seriously tuned version of Ford’s 3.5 litre ‘Ecoboost’ V6 engine producing over 600bhp.
Ford designed the GT first and foremost as a racing car, maximising performance within GT-class rules, and then adapting the design for the road. This makes the GT a magnificently impractical car for road use, but at a track… that’s a different story.
This stunning Technic recreation of Ford’s newest supercar has been built by previous bloggee Lachlan Cameron and it’s very nearly as impressive as the real car. Underneath the beautifully sculpted body work is a V6 engine, inboard pushrod suspension complete with the GT’s trick ‘track mode’ setting which drops the car to the tarmac, a raising rear spoiler, and Power Functions remote control drive and steering.
There’s a whole lot more to see of Lachlan’s incredible Ford GT Technic Supercar on Flickr and at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the links above for the full gallery, build details, and a video of the GT in action.
Gimmie a ticket for an aeroplane
Ain’t got time to take a fast train
Lonely days are gone I’m a goin’ home
My baby has just wrote me a letter.
We don’t often see Technic aeroplanes, but this unusual creation by BrickbyBrickTechnic shows that Technic aircraft can be done very well indeed. With working ailerons, airbrakes, elevators and tail rudder, plus functioning (and suspended) landing gear, BrickbyBrick’s jet airliner includes more functionality than many Technic models of more usual subjects. Get yourself a ticket at either Flickr or Eurobricks, and you can find today’s title song by clicking here.
