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.

Glass Ceiling

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Lego Concept Car

With no corporate hierarchy here at The Lego Car Blog we consider ourselves a wonderfully inclusive organisation. Man, woman or elf*, there’s no limit to how high you can go in the organisational structure. This is mostly because there is no structure whatsoever and thus every member of staff is simultaneously at the very bottom and very top of their career here.

Still, the glass ceiling does exist and it’s apparently very bad, but if RGB900‘s version is anything to go by we think the glass ceiling looks fantastic! RGB900 has fitted his to a rather lovely looking four seat concept car, and there are more images to see at his Flickr photostream via the link above. Unless you’re female, in which case you won’t be able to go past the first one.

*That’s not true. The Elves are on the bottom.

Big Tow

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Lego MAN TGX Tow Truck

Heavy duty tow trucks such as this huge MAN TGX spend most of their time at the side of the road waiting for a trucker in need*. This brilliant Model Team TGX wrecker is an updated build by previous bloggee Nanko Klein Paste, and it’s packed with detail inside and out, with everything that a stricken truck could require. There’s also twin-axle working steering, multiple opening compartments and a working under-lift too. There’s lots more to see on Flickr – click the link above to call for a tow.

Lego MAN Heavy Duty Wrecker

*Just like your Mom

Sub Hunter

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Lego SH-60F Seahawk

This superb SH-60F Seahawk as used by the anti-submarine unit aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt comes from old favourite Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist on Flickr. With beautiful detailing and custom decals it’s a fine way to kick off 2017’s aircraft here at The Lego Car Blog. There’s more to see, including photos of the nifty sliding cabin door and folding rotors, at Ralph’s photostream via the link above.

Big Bucket

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Lego Technic CAT 6120B Hfs Mining Shovel

Just like your Mom, this fully remote controlled Technic Caterpillar 6120B HFS mining shovel is absolutely massive.

Designed and constructed by Technic-building legend Shineyu, this brick-built behemoth weighs nearly 15kgs, replicating perfectly  in Technic-figure scale the largest hydraulic mining shovel ever made.

Lego Technic Caterpillar 6120B Mining Shovel RC

With nine Power Functions motors driving the Caterpillar’s tracks, turntable, shovel action and bucket opening there’s some serious engineering at play, and without a single non-LEGO piece being used anywhere in the build Shinyu‘s creation really shows how far LEGO-building can be taken.

An extensive gallery of images is available to view, and just like your Mom there’s an easily accessible video of the 6120B in action too. Click the link above to jump to the Eurobricks discussion forum for the full story.

Lego Technic Caterpillar 6120B Mining Shovel RC

42054 Technic Claas Xerion 5000 Review

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Lego Technic 42054 Claas Xerion Review

It’s time for another official LEGO set review here at The Lego Car Blog, and it’s a big one. Welcome to the Claas Xerion 5000 Trac VC.

This TLCB staff member has wanted to get his hands on LEGO’s 42054 Claas Xerion set ever since he first saw it. A large lime-green tractor now sits next to him as he types, so has it met expectations?…

42054 sits, a little surprisingly, in the middle of the current Technic range. A little while ago it would have probably been the Technic flagship, but so huge are the current models getting that the Claas is less than half the price of the Volvo L350F and Porsche 911 GT3 RS. However at almost 2,000 pieces 42054 actually features a few hundred more than the big Volvo.

Many of these are new too, with brand new (awesome) tyres, and a wealth of new bushes and pin connectors making their debut in this set. LEGO have employed a few interesting techniques in building with these, as some of these parts are used purely as a construction aid (think an unseen bracket on a car bodyshell that serves no purpose once the car is built, but allows a robot to align a laser or something during manufacturing), and all are coloured in a way that aims to assist with the build process (as opposed to the colour being chosen to best suit the finished model’s aesthetics).

If that makes you concerned about how authentic the Claas looks, don’t be. 42054 is one of the finest looking Technic sets ever produced, and it continues the trend of featuring almost Model Team levels of detailing, with Technic lift-arm holes concealed by smooth plates, lights, mirrors, and some very well chosen stickers.

The downside of the aforementioned colour choices is that black and dark grey parts can look almost identical in the instruction booklet, and when you first come across one of the new pieces you may spend ages looking for it amongst a sea of 2,000 bricks, scanning for black, when it is in fact nestling in a pile of grey. Not that this reviewer did that of course. He’s far too experienced to make that mistake.

Lego 42054 Review Claas Xerion

Colours aside the instructions are clearly laid out, and feature some huge sub-assemblies. Which brings us neatly on to a new phenomenon that the Claas Xerion demonstrates wonderfully; Density of Engineering.

Yes, we have just made that phrase up, but 42054 features some of the most compressed and tightly-packed mechanics of any LEGO set. Ever.

It’s the first set where the design has genuinely amazed us in its complexity – it’s so far above our building ability that we could never hope to better it. Some of this engineering brilliance fulfils relatively simple tasks, for example when the motor isn’t in use the battery box is automatically switched off (a thoughtful piece of design), whilst other elements, such as the three-mode steering, are mind-bendingly fantastic. Continue reading →

Still Not a Car

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Klingon Bird of Prey

Time to feature another ship on TLCB, only this time it’s of the space-going variety. Birds of Prey usually strike fear into the hearts of TLCB Elves as they roam the highways and byways, searching for Lego models. Quite a few of our workforce have become tasty* snacks for kestrels and buzzards over the years.

This classic Klingon warship has been built by Kevin J. Walter over a period of 8 years from virtual model to real bricks. It features some impressive and unusual design and detailing which should be interesting to builders of all sorts of Lego MOCs. Click the link in text to zoom into the details on Flickr. Now, can we find something with wheels on to blog in 2017?

Klingon Bird of Prey

*Possibly quite chocolaty, given the Elves’ diet of Smarties.

2016 Year in Review

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Lego 2017

We’ve made it to 2017! Here’s our round-up of the year that was…

Yes, we’ve survived another year! 2016 may have been filled with odd politics, scary news stories, and celebrity deaths, but The Lego Car Blog continues to amaze us.

Despite this site being as ropey and incompetent as it’s always been, in 2016 TLCB smashed through the one million views per year mark! A million a year! For those working behind the scenes here in TLCB Towers, and knowing how out of our depth we really are with the whole running a website thing, this is an unbelievable statistic.

Although we have no idea how the annual view count has surpassed a million it is good news for the online Lego community’s vehicle builders, as we hope we’re giving recognition to a genre that a few years ago was overlooked by the proper Lego blogs (who have now joined the party in blogging vehicles too).

It’s also good news for the various charities and aid organisations that we support. Your views and clicks mean that this site earns a small monthly revenue. As most of our workforce is populated by mythical creatures paid in sugar-coated chocolate confectionary we don’t need this, and thus we’re able to pass it on to those that do, thanks entirely to your visits.

In 2017 we may explore updating the site to properly accommodate advertisements, as we do now feel a duty to do our best to maximise our earnings, but we’ll let you know about this should it happen later in the year.

In the meantime we’ll aim to keep bringing you the very best vehicular creations, set reviews, LEGO news, and builder interviews, and we look forward to another year being totally puzzled by the fact that people actually come here to read the inane nonsense we publish.

Wishing you all the very best for 2017

TLCB Team

P.S. The Lego Car Blog is on Facebook now too! Click here to stay in touch via Mark Zuckerberg’s bank account.

Not a Car

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Lego Ship

It’s 2017! And we’re kicking off the new year with a creation that, er… isn’t a car. No matter, it is lovely. This medieval warship has been constructed by Felipe Avelar, it’s crewed by a rag-tag band of mini-figures, and there’s more to see on Flickr here.

Review My Set Competition – Now Closed!

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TLCB Review My Set

Running over the past 6 months or so we’ve been asking you, our readers, to submit your reviews of LEGO sets that you thought should be in the Set Review Library. We’ve published loads of your entries (which can read by clicking the link above) and we now have the tough job of shortlisting, via the view count figures, those who will go to the judges’ vote.

Some say we only embarked on this exercise to increase the Set Review Library’s stock without paying anyone. And they’d be right. But we do have prizes up for grabs, made up of the loot that we have acquired here in TLCB Towers over the past year.

We’ll be announcing the winner of the aforementioned swag in the New Year, in the meantime a huge thank you to all those who have entered the competition, and if you’d like to submit a review for the Set Review Library here at The Lego Car Blog you still can (only you won’t win anything). If you have good written English and creative writing skills then get in touch!

Lego Set Reviews Prizes

Christmas Orange

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Lego Technic Scorpion Supercar Crowkillers

We’re not really sure why you always get an orange at the bottom of your Christmas stocking. This TLCB writer usually gives his to the Elves, who – having been caged over Christmas – are usually pretty hungry and devour the fruit – skin, pith and all.

Technic car building legend and TLCB Master MOCer Paul Boratko (aka Crowkillers) has returned with his Christmas orange, and it’s far more exciting than a loose piece of citrusy fruit. Even if you’re an Elf.

Featuring a 4-speed sequential gearbox, working steering, a mid-mounted V8 engine, all-wheel drive and all-wheel suspension, Crowkiller’s ‘Scorpion’ is a proper mechanical Technic supercar, and we love it.

There’s a huge gallery of the build available to view on Brickshelf, which includes detailed chassis imagery as well as further photos of the complete car. Click the link above to start peeling!

Lego Technic Scorpion Supercar Crowkilers