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

Work of Fiction

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Lego Supercar

We don’t often blog fictional cars here at The Lego Car Blog. This is mostly because they tend to be a bit on the shit side. This isn’t though. It’s been built by Flickr’s Alexander Paschoaletto, it’s called the ‘Tonagari Atmos’, and it is – as you can see in these images – an absolutely beautiful piece of design. There are several images available to view – click the link above to check them out.

Lego Supercar

To the Alps!

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Lego Neoplan Coach

Coaches like this Neoplan are commonplace across Europe, with many winding their way through the Alps at this time of year loaded with slightly drunk skiers. This one comes from Flickr’s Keko007 and you can book your ticket to the slopes via the link.

21103 – Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine – Review

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Lego 21103 Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine

The Lego Car Blog Review My Set Competition is drawing to a close, so there’s just enough time to fit in one more fan review! Today’s reviewer is a previous bloggee himself, and today he’s on the other side of the screen after joining us here at TLCB to pen the final reader review of the competition. Over to Nils O to pick up the story…

A Dream (Almost) Come True…

The LEGO Ideas set of the Back to the Future (BTTF) time machine could have been one of the best LEGO sets ever. For me the project on LEGO Ideas (then still called CUUSOO) is still one of the best on the platform. The pictures of the car / time machine are so cool that as a BTTF and LEGO fan you just want one thing: To own that model!

The set that hit the shelves was another thing entirely. If you want to be nice you could call the look weird, but let’s be honest; it’s ugly. I think most BTTF fans still want the set, but they also want to do something more; modify it to make it look better.

But first things first. 21103 comes in a high quality black box featuring a cool BTTF design. There’s a book with instructions for the time machine from all three parts of the movie franchise, including a hover function and 1950s’ wheels and ‘electronic components’, and the parts are included for all three versions of the car. There are also unique mini-figs of Marty and Doc which are instantly recognisable, and additionally you get a skateboard, but no – no Hover Board.

Lego 21103 DeLorean Box

But what you do get is a handful of excellent printed parts (yes, printed parts, no stickers) (Hurrah! Ed.): License plates for 1985 (‘OUTATIME’) and 2015 (bar code), a time computer and, of course, a Flux Capacitor. The only part I’m not a 100% happy with is the Flux Capacitor. I just don’t like the 1x2x2 panel, for me a 1x2x2 printed brick or a 2×2 printed tile would have been a better choice.

After building the set (I built the version from Back to the Future Part II) the second thing you notice (after realising how ugly it really is) is the untypical fragility of the set. You can’t really touch it without something falling off. I had to modify the thing, especially the 4-wide roof which didn’t look right. Surprisingly I could build a 6-wide roof and matching A-pillars and doors just using parts from the set. So, why didn’t the LEGO designers do something similar? We will never know. Continue reading →

Tiny Tatra

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Lego Tatra Fire Truck

You don’t need ten thousand bricks to appear here at The Lego Car Blog. Around sixty will do. At least that’s all Flickr’s František Hajdekr needed to build this lovely Tatra fire truck. See more via the link above.

Thief in the Night

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Lego Technic Trike

Full disclosure; this magnificently menacing model was not found by our Elven workforce. We stole it. From Bricknerd. We’re ashamed, and remorseful, but not enough to stop us from blogging it. The Elves are in trouble though.

It’s a shame they didn’t find this Technic trike too, as they would have absolutely loved it. It’s been built by Flickr’s ianying616, making his TLCB debut, and it’s a spectacular thing to behold. It’s also packing some quality Technic engineering, with working steering, suspension and engine.

A huge gallery of superb images is available to view on Flickr; you can check out all of the trike’s details via the link above.

Lego Technic Trike

Look at the Fields – They Are Ripe for Harvest.

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Lego Bizon ZO56 Combine

This beautifully-built Bizon ZO56 combine harvester comes from Flickr’s Damian Z. aka Thietmaier. Abounding in detail, Damian’s model faithfully recreates one of the most well-known and recognisable Polish harvesters, although if like us you’re neither Polish nor a combine harvester expert that probably means little! We’ll trust Damian that it’s accurate, and it also allows us to write a title that tenuously links the model in this post to Christmas. Points for us! You can see more of Damian’s Bison ZO56 on Flickr – click the link above to gather the crop.

Lego Bizon Combine Harvester

Cat’s Anus

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Lego Cargo Ship

The Lego Car Blog Elves, held captive over Christmas, have all been released back into the internet to continue their unending and poorly paid search for the web’s best Lego creations.

Upon unlocking TLCB Towers this morning a particularly speedy Elf had already returned with a find, and is now happily consuming the rewards associated with a meal token. So what did it find?…

Lego Space Freighter

Built by TLCB favourite David Roberts, today’s post is a curious spaceship of feline colonising design. Not in that its purpose is to conquer the universe’s cats. Nor is it piloted by cats intent on universe domination. Rather – and there’s no delicate way to put this – it looks a bit like a cat’s arse when it’s taking a shit…

Despite this unfortunate anatomical resemblance it is a lovely build, and it has an intriguing back-story too. You can discover more of both the ship and the story which spawned it at David’s Flickr photostream via the link above. Just bring a plastic bag and a small spade.

Lego Space Freighter

5591 Mach II Red Bird Review

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Lego 5591 Mach II Red Bird

The Lego Car Blog Review My Set Competition is drawing to a close, but we have just enough time to squeeze in a couple more reader reviews before the end of the year deadline. Today’s set review comes from a TLCB reader, and also one of our Master MOCers, the brilliant Andrea Lattanzio aka Norton74, and things are getting decidedly 1990s. Over to Andrea…

This Red Bird is ready to fly.

My love affair with the set No. 5591, also called ‘Mach II Red Bird’, started during a very cold Sunday morning of a past winter when I saw the big truck displayed on a flea market counter. I immediately bought it even though a few yellow pieces were replacing the missing originals, red train doors in place of the white ones, and other things like that were afflicting it. But for the price it was on offer for I got it with no hesitation! Without difficulty I replaced the incorrect parts with the right ones and the set is now restored in all its glory alongside the other Model Team sets in my collection.

Let’s step back. The Red Bird is the eighth set of the Model Team series, released by LEGO in 1994. Model Team was the large scale vehicle line that LEGO produced from 1986 until 1999, with a total of 15 sets, plus a re-release of the 5541 Hot Rod in 2004 as part of the Legends series.

Model Team vehicles were characterized by realism, although whilst there is no doubt they were detailed and charming models the techniques used are fairly basic by today’s standards.

Lego Model Team Range

5591 Red Bird is a big set and it’s rich in pieces, an impression I had the first time I looked at it. Despite the basic colours – white, red and black – the livery is really spot on, reminding me of the “B.J. and the bear” colours. The wide usage of stickers makes the set more appealing too.

The set is composed by three parts: the tractor truck, the low loader semi-trailer and the Red Bird jet aircraft. Let’s take a look.

The tractor truck is probably the best part of the set. It’s based on a typical US truck with the cab behind the engine and a long front nose. The truck has a very well balanced design and it’s rich in details, among others: side mirrors, windshield wipers, opening doors and many auxiliary lights, with the side ladders located on the lateral fuel tanks.

You can open the hood to reveal the cool looking engine which was probably influenced by the first LEGO Model Team engine ever, found in the 5580 Highway Rig. The hood is wedge shaped too, which I really like as it helps to make the front of the truck more streamlined. 5591’s interior is quite simple featuring two yellow seats, a steering wheel and the dashboard constituted of two printed slopes. The front wheels can steer by turning a knob located on the roof and the Hand of God control works well – all good so far.

However, the back of the truck is a little bit poor without a realistic fifth wheel and with a simple bumper featuring only rear red lights. We’d have to wait until 1996 for the 5571 Black Cat to see a decent rear to a truck with a convincing fifth wheel.

Lego 5591 Mach II Red Bird

The second part of the set is the semi-trailer, which is quite simple and it perhaps looks more Technic than Model Team. Naturally the trailer can be hooked unto the truck by a plate modified with a towball socket. Continue reading →

C is for Christmas

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Lego Nimbus Type C Motorcycle

We’re back, and we hope you’re all having a throughly excellent Christmas! We’re kicking off that slightly awkward period between Christmas and New Year with this, Henrik Jensen‘s gorgeous classic Nimbus Type C motorcycle.

Producing from 1919 until 1960, Nimbus were a successful Danish motorbike manufacturer, providing bikes to the military, civil and public markets. This beautiful 1950s Type C is one of the last Nimbuses made, and Henrik’s Model Team recreation is one of the finest Lego bikes we’ve found this year.

You can check out all the images of the Type C at Henrik’s photostream – click the link above to take a look.

Lego Nimbus Motorbike

It’s Christmaaaaaas!

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Lego Santa Sleigh Mech

Presents are being wrapped, Santa is checking his list twice, and we’re about to spend the next few days getting drunk. So as we wind things down here for our usual Christmas break we have one last creation to share, Sariel‘s slightly terrifying mechanised-reindeer propelled sleigh. Watch it in action via the link above, have a very Merry Christmas, and we’ll see you all soon!

Christmas wishes

TLCB Team 

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta – Picture Special

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Lego Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

Ryan Link of MOCpages has appeared here at TLCB a few times over the years, and his latest creation continues his ascension into the very top ranks of the community’s vehicle builders. This is a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and it is – as you can see – a beautiful piece of design. It’s also complicated. Really complicated. Yet somehow (using witchcraft and magic we suspect) Ryan has replicated the F12’s fiendishly difficult bodywork brilliantly in Lego form. And the doors, hood and rear hatch still open.

Lego Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

Ryan has deployed a cunning variety of superb building techniques, blended together seamlessly, to create his Maranello masterpiece, and the engine bay and interior are just as well crafted as the outside. There’s an extensive gallery of images is available to view – click here to make the jump to MOCpages for the Ferrari F12’s full build details.

Lego Ferrari F12 Berlinetta