McLaren Monday

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Lego McLaren 675LT Spider

McLaren Automotive are on a roll right now. After two decades away from car building they’ve re-entered the market big time, first with the MP4-12C (easily the worst named supercar in history), and now with a range of super sports cars based around the same carbon fibre tub and twin turbo V8 engine.

This one is the most powerful in the range (excluding the limited run P1 hypercar), the 675 LT, and it’s been recreated in Technic form as a commission piece by previous bloggee Jeroen Ottens. With remote control drive and steering, an electrically deployed rear wing and a working electric convertible roof Jeroen’s build is more than just a static display piece.

There’s more to see at Eurobricks and Flickr, where you can also find a link to a video of the functions in action and where instructions are available so that you can build your own 675 LT Spider too.

Lego McLaren 675LT Spider

Mazda MX-5 Miata – Picture Special

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Lego Mazda MX-5 Miata

We love the Mazda MX-5 / Miata / Eunos here at The Lego Car Blog HQ. Although clearly stealing its exterior styling straight from the 1960s Lotus Elan, and launched with just 110bhp, the first generation ‘NA’ series MX-5 reinvigorated the sports car for the modern age.

Lego Mazda MX-5 Miata

Prior to the little Mazda’s launch in 1989 the small two-seat roadster species was almost extinct. The collapse of the British auto industry which had made most of the world’s roadsters, and the rise of the hot hatchback had seen the sales of sports cars plummet.

And then Mazda came along, with something small, cheap, fun and – uniquely for a roadster – reliable. The MX-5 sold by the boatload, and ensured the survival of the roadster formula as BMW, Porsche, Honda, Mercedes and others rushed to join the newly resurgent sports car market.

Lego Mazda MX-5 Miata

Mazda are now on their fourth generation MX-5 and it’s better than ever, but today we’re sticking with the original, the lovely early ’90s NA. This brilliant Creator-style replica of the first generation MX-5 is a commissioned piece and comes from Flickr’s BrickMonkey, featuring pop-up headlights, opening doors, hood and trunk, and including a detailed engine, interior and even chassis.

Lego Mazda MX-5 Miata

There’s loads more to see at BrickMonkey’s Flickr photostream. Click the link above to take your top off and have some fun in ’89!

Sandbeetle

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Lego Octan Sandbeetle

We’re not sure what this is or what it does, but it’s absolutely magnificent! Built by Flickr’s BobDeQuatre it’s called the ‘Ocean Sandbeetle’, and it’s made us wonder why all cars don’t have five wheels. Whilst we figure out how we can up the wheel count on the office Rover 200 you can check out Bob’s build via his photostream by clicking here.

White Russian

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Lego GAZ-3308 "Sadko"

This beautifully built canvas-covered GAZ 3308 dropside truck comes from Flickr’s VR Workshop, and it’s a lovely way to start 2017’s medium scale LEGO trucks. See more at the link above.

Lego GAZ-3308 "Sadko"

Bullitt in Brick

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Lego Bullitt Ford Mustang

TLCB Master MOCer and car-building legend Ralph Savelsberg has returned with another glorious movie car. Actually this dark green ’68 Ford Mustang GT Fastback isn’t just another movie car. It’s very probably the greatest movie car in cinematic history, and stars in one of the most influential car chases of all time.

You can see more of Ralph’s superb recreation of Bullitt’s iconic Mustang at the link above, and if you haven’t seen the chase scene in which it stars, we highly recommend taking 10 minutes to enjoy it here. Just don’t count the lost hubcaps…

Compact Pussycat

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Lego Wacky Races Compact Pussycat

And now here they are! The most daredevil group of daffy drivers to ever whirl their wheels in the Wacky Races. Competing for the title of World’s Wackiest Racer!… Oh! Here’s the lovely Penelope Pitstop, the glamour gal of the gas pedal.

Redfern1950s is back with one of the few remaining Wacky Racers he’s not yet built, Penelope Pitstop in the ‘Compact Pussycat’, and it’s taking every fibre of our restraint for us not to make lewd jokes, so we’ll end this post before we get into trouble – check out Penelope’s pink pussy here! Damn.

French Fancy

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Lego Citroen DS 19

DS; Citroen’s attempt to emulate the Volkswagen Group by building a car that’s identical to their ‘volume’ products, save for the badge and headlights, and charging 50% more for it. Yes Audi, we’re looking at you.

Still, Volkswagen have made it work, thanks to mankind’s preference for marketing over facts, and PSA – owners of Citroen and Peugeot – would love a slice of the premium profit margin pie for themselves.

The DS range is PSA’s answer, and it’s safe to say that so far it hasn’t been a success. It’s almost as though people don’t want to spend half-as-much again for a thoroughly average car with fancy headlights and a clever marketing campaign…

Lego Citroen DS

From 1955 to’75 though, ‘DS’ meant something a whole lot more. Very probably the most advanced car ever made, Citroen’s DS 19, 21 and 23 models sold almost 1.5 million units between them.

The original DS featured innovative front-wheel-drive (a rarity even by the ’70s), hydro-pneumatic self-levelling independent suspension, headlights that swivelled into corners, power steering, a semi-automatic clutchless transmission, and it was the first production car ever fitted with disc brakes. Quite a car then, and a world away from a Citroen C4 with ‘DS’ written on the back and and larger price stuck in the windshield.

This glorious machine is a 1967 DS 19, and it’s been beautifully recreated in Lego form by Jonathan Elliott of Flickr and MOCpages. His wonderful Model Team style replica features working steering, squishy suspension, opening doors and hood, and a lovely authentically detailed interior.

There’s a lot more to see of the DS 19 at Jonathan’s photostream and MOCpage – click the links above to make the jump.

Lego Citroen DS ID19

Today’s Programme is Brought to You by the Letters ‘T’ and ‘U’

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Lego Ford Model T

Some wise words from Sesame Street, which has been playing on the old TV in the Elves’ cage room to help them learn to spell. A human hand hidden inside some fuzzy felt with eyes stuck on top is clearly an effective learning aid, as following Elmo’s alphabetical directive the Elves have returned with two letter-based finds today!

Our ‘T’ creation (above) comes from Flickr’s Jonas Obermaier, a neat 1920s Ford Model T pick-up in mini-figure scale. Mini-figures who are up to no-good we think, as any 1920s vehicle near a ‘Keep Out’ sign usually spells trouble. Find out what they’re up to at the link above.

Today’s ‘U’ creation (below) was also found on Flickr, and comes from Joshua Brooks. It too is mini-figure scale, and it’s apparently a UT-60D U-Wing fighter from one of the many Star Wars battles in which some plucky pilots try to thwart a giant evil space station. It could therefore be from literally any Star Wars story as far as we know, so for a fuller back-story (and to check out what is a really lovely creation) click the link above or wait for it to appear on a blog that’s nerdier than this one.

Lego UT-60D U-Wing Star Wars

A Red Wolf

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ta

The Ta-152 was the ultimate expression of Focke-Wulf’s Fw 190 fighter aeroplane of WW II. The particular version built by Maelven on Flickr is the Ta 152H, optimised for high altitude flight. The modifications included a pressurised cockpit, an increased wingspan and a Junkers Jumo 213E V12 engine with two speed, two stage supercharger and intercooler.

With methanol-water & nitrous-oxide boost, the engine could produce 2,050PS and made the Ta 152 one of the fastest piston engined aeroplanes of the war with 472mph at 41,000 feet. Maelven has displayed his model with its cowling open, displaying the mighty engine. What was the aircraft like to fly? This was described by the world’s most experienced test pilot and fluent German speaker, Capt. Eric Brown RN is this article. For more views of Maelven’s model, click this link.

Having a Wankel

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Lego Mazda RX-7 FD

This beautifully-constructed creation is the work of serial bloggee Senator Chinchilla and it is, as any fan of ’90s Japanese cars will know, Mazda’s legendary final-generation RX-7.

Powered by a Wankel rotary engine the RX-7 was just 1.3 litres in capacity, yet with twin turbo chargers the tiny unit made well over 250bhp. And this was back in the early 1990s too.

Production of the RX-7 ended in Japan in 2002 as Mazda geared up for the more usable RX-8 which followed it, and – fingers crossed – Mazda is readying the RX-8’s rotary-engined successor as we type. In the meantime you can check out this brilliant recreation of RX-8’s predecessor by visiting Senator Chinchilla’s photostream – click here to make the jump.

screen-shot-2017-01-10-at-10-19-55

You Don’t Know Man… You Weren’t There

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Lego Bell AH-1G Cobra Helicopter

We weren’t there, or even born, but we do know that the outside contributors to the Vietnam War (China, the Soviet Union, Australia, South Korea, Thailand and, of course, the United States) were embroiling themselves completely pointlessly.

The Vietnam War raged for twenty years from 1955 to 1975, with heavy U.S involvement from the early ’60s until ’73, yet the conflict should have simply been an internal civil war between North and South Vietnam. However, when one side was Communist and the other Capitalist, the world’s superpowers decided that they could use the unrest to further their own ideology, split as they were along the same lines. Yay imperialism.

This dramatic escalation meant that up to 4 million people died in the conflict, the majority of whom were Vietnamese civilians, and the U.S pulled out having needlessly lost nearly 60,000 personnel. Still, lessons were learned and the superpowers never again involved themselves in foreign wars to further their own agenda. Wait, that’s not right…

Oh yeah, the model! This superb mini-figure scale Bell AH-1G Cobra helicopter in U.S Military Vietnam specification is the work of previous bloggee Daniel Siskind and you can check it out via his excellent photostream by clicking here.

Taking a Dump

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Lego Technic Claas Xerion Trailer

LEGO’s 42054 Claas Xerion 5000 tractor is one of the very best sets that we’ve ever reviewed. It’s so good in fact that we can think of little that could be done to improve it. But that’s not to say it can’t be enhanced with a little MOCery. With an adjustable hitch both front and rear that includes a power-take-off, a wealth of attachments can be developed to accompany LEGO’s brilliant set.

Lego Remote Control Tractor Trailer

Which is exactly what MajklSpakjl of Eurobricks has done. Coupling neatly to the rear of the Claas Xerion tractor Majkl has constructed an enormous Krampe HP30 dump trailer, complete with steering axles and working suspension, and utilising the tractor’s rear power-take-off to drive the dumping mechanism remotely. The complete rig functions beautifully and you can watch it in action and see all of the photos at the Eurobricks discussion by clicking the link above.

Lego Technic Krampe HP30 Trailer

Gas, Gas, Gas!

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Lego Octan Gasser Hot Rods

I was born in a cross-fire hurricane
And I howled at the morning driving rain
But it’s all right now, in fact, it’s a gas!
But it’s all right. I’m Jumpin’ Jack Flash
It’s a gas, gas, gas!

These three matching mini-figure scale Octan-sponsored ‘gasser’ drag racers come from Flickr’s Tim Henderson, and LEGO’s fictional oil company has never looked so cool! See more at the link above.

Blue Bug

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Lego Volkswagen Beetle 2017

We’re not really fans of VW’s ‘new’ Beetles. Volkswagen are on their second ‘new’ Beetle, yet despite beating both the new Mini and the new Fiat 500 to the market for retro compact cars, the bug seems to lack the charm and fun of either of them.

No matter, because car-building legend Firas Abu-Jaber has brought the fun back with this brilliant GRC-bodykitted 2017 Beetle, made almost entirely from the pieces found within the official 10252 VW Beetle Creator set.

There’s more to see of the 2017 GRC Beetle on both Flickr and MOCpages, and you can read Firas’ interview with us here at TLCB by clicking here.

Lego VW New Beetle

Perfect Porsche

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Lego Porsche 911

We quite like the current Porsche 911. In world of Audis with huge wheels, factory bodykits and privacy glass, Porsche’s supercar for the people is actually looking quite understated in comparison. However we like this one even more; Senator Chinchilla‘s beautiful classic 911 modified with 3D-printed wheels, a ducktail spoiler and a huge exhaust. So understated it isn’t, but for reasons that confuse us we want it so badly we might even send some Elves out on a mission of thievery. Senator’s superb modified Porsche was suggested to us by a reader and you can see all of the images at the link above.