Black and Yellow

Lego BMW M3 (E30)

BMW’s first generation M3 is one of our very favourite cars. Small, light, and not particularly powerful, it’s the antidote to the ridiculous ongoing power-war between the premium brands that’s resulting in ever faster, yet ever fatter and ever more expensive ‘drivers cars’.

Lego E30 BMW M3

The E30 M3 takes us back to basics, when drivers cars were about, well… driving. We’re not alone in thinking this either, as the values of these early M3s are soaring, putting them well out of reach of appearing in TLCB staff carpark.

Fear not though, as MOCpages’ Daniel H. has a plan to make the E30 BMW M3 a whole lot more affordable. Daniel’s slickly recreated Model Team replica of the famous sports saloon was suggested to us by a reader, and it’s available to vote for on the LEGO Ideas platform now.

Lego BMW M3 E30

Featuring a detailed interior, chassis and engine, plus opening doors, hood and trunk, Daniel’s M3 would make a superb addition to LEGO’s expanding officially-licensed vehicle line up.

You can see all the images at Daniel’s MOCpage via the link above, and you can vote for this creation to become an official LEGO set by clicking here.

Lego BMW M3

9398 4×4 Crawler Review

 

Lego Technic 9398 4x4 Crawler Review

The Lego Car Blog reviewing Anorak, hanging nerdily for a short while, has today been removed from the office coat-rack and thrust at one of you for another Reader Review! Doubling his chances in the ongoing Review My Set Competition is Marco. qm of MOCpages, who adds another set to the Set Review Library. Over to Marco…

The 9398 4×4 Crawler, around $200 when I bought it, and it looked great on the shelves at the shop. A little expensive? Not really, it comes with 2L motors, a Servo motor, a battery pack and the signal receiver with the controller. Plus another 1,321 pieces.

The set comes in a big grey box, containing many different bags filled with bricks, the building instructions, and nothing more. It’s definitely not the box of the 42056 Porsche 911 Gt3.

Building 9398 you start with the chassis – as always in Technic sets – adding the two L motors for power to all four wheels and the Servo motor for steering at both the front and back of the vehicle. However after a time you’ll notice that the gear ratios are aggressively slow, which some builders won’t like, and for such a big set there is no V8 engine… in fact there is no engine at all! Even the little 8256 set has an engine! If mechanical functions are your thing then unfortunately 9398 will prove disappointing.

On to the looks of the set, where things don’t get much better. 9398 resembles a modern El Camino monster truck, yet looks neither strong nor powerful, more like a graffiti artist has spray painted Barbie’s Jeep. Not good. (Agreed! Ed.)

Lego 9398 Crawler Review

OK, let’s stop talking about all the bad stuff. 9398 is the type of LEGO set which is useful if you’re the kind of builder that buys sets for the parts, where it is a good investment. With multiple electric components and those great-looking (and huge) tyres that are under-utilised here, there’s plenty to pilfer for your own creations. Continue reading

Biggie Smalls

Lego Nieuw Statendam Cruise Ship

Micro-scale creations are usually pretty, well… micro. Not this one though. Measuring a massive 1.5 meters long, built from around 25,000 LEGO bricks, and weighing 23KGs, Edwin Kornstanje’s 1:200 replica of Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statendam cruise ship is one of the largest fan-built models we’ve ever featured.

Decks feature full interiors, with bars, restaurants, lounge rooms, a spa, a casino, and two swimming pools, all of which have been recreated beautifully in miniature. The real ship is currently being constructed in Italy and is due to launch in 2018, but Edwin’s magnificent replica is ready to sail now. Book your ticket to see all of the incredible details at Flickr or Eurobricks, and you can read more about the builder in Series 1 of our Master MOCers interviews by clicking here.

Crawler Grabber

Lego Technic RC Tracked Grab

This weird-looking device is apparently a Crawler-Grabber, and we suppose it is, seeing as it both crawls and grabs. It’s the work of TLCB favourite Nico71, and it can lift a TLCB Elf surprisingly high into the air before dropping it into the toilet. Don’t worry, we didn’t press the flush.

Controlled remotely via LEGO’s Power Functions system, Nico’s creation is able to drive, skid steer, and elevate and extend the boom. It looks a bit like one of those RC bomb disposal robots and as such we may well put it to use removing Elf droppings from the Cage Room. Whilst we get cleaning you can see more on Brickshelf – click here to grab a look.

Four Over Two

Lego Motorcycle

Redfern1950s has appeared several times over the past year with his wonderfully original motorcycle designs. This is his latest, with a highly detailed inline four-cylinder engine and the most brilliant motorbike seat we’ve ever seen. There’s more to see at Redfern’s photostream, and you can see all of his builds to feature here at The Lego Car Blog by clicking here.

Eleph-Ant

Lego Technic RC Mecalac MTX

Suggested by a reader, and looking like a cross between and ant and an elephant, this Mecalac MTX articulated excavator is one of the weirdest (and ugliest) vehicles we’ve featured in some time.

However, much like the real Mecalac, this remote controlled replica by newcomer proran of Eurobricks is a very clever bit of kit. No fewer than five Power Functions motors, five linear actuators, and three IR receivers control everything from the drive and articulated steering to the outriggers, 360 degree slew, four-section independent boom elevation, and bucket articulation.

You can see how all of that works at the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above, where there are also digital renders of the mechanics and a video of the MTX in action.

Lego Technic RC Mecalac MTX

Buzzin’ Hornet

Lego McDonnell-Douglas F-18C Hornet

Much like the news, TLCB seems to be quite military focussed currently. We’ll try to rectify that and send some Elves further afield to happier places, but in the meantime here’s today’s military creation – Dornbi’s 1:22 McDonnell-Douglas F-18C Hornet in Swiss airforce specification. Grey and warfare-y it may be, but it’s also an absolutely superb build, with working landing gear, aeronautics and an opening cockpit. There’s loads more to see at Dornbi’s photostream which you can access here.

World of Tanks

Lego A39 Tortoise Tank Sariel RC

It was a quiet morning here at TLCB Towers. Then an Elf triumphantly rode into the office atop this, Sariel’s ridiculously impressive fully remote controlled A39 Tortoise tank. But a quiet morning it remained, as this might well be the slowest remote control creation that we’ve ever featured.

It is however, one of the most accomplished. Controlled via two SBricks (meaning a Playstation controller can be used to operate it, which is seriously cool!), Sariel’s tank features full RC drive and steering, gun elevation and panning, turret rotation, working suspension and a V12 piston engine.

There’s more to see on MOCpages here, plus you can watch all those features in action via the excellent video below.

YouTube Video

Seventies Scania

Lego Scania LBS141

This stunning model is a near perfect replica of one of the most powerful trucks of the 1970s, the 375bhp V8-powered Scania LBS141.

Built by Master MOCer Dennis Bosman aka LegoTrucks it’s very probably one of the most accurate recreations of a real-world vehicle that this site has ever featured; there are even parts of this build where offsets are less than half-a-stud in width. Much like a bumblebee shouldn’t – by all mathematic calculations – be able to fly, we’re pretty sure that an offset of less than half-a-stud is an impossibility too, but nevertheless Dennis has confounded the maths.

There’s lots more to see of this incredible creation at Dennis’ photostream, which is packed full of exquisite models such as this. Click the link above to gaze in wonder, and you can read more about the builder via Season 1 of our Master MOCer series here.

Lego Scania Truck Dennis Bosman

Boxing Clever

Lego Warehouse

We’re used to featuring far more glamorous vehicles here at The Lego Car Blog, but the humble forklift and pallet trolley really do deserve your appreciation.

The vehicular backbone of modern society, everything in your possession – from the chair you’re sitting on to the device with which you’re reading these words – will have at some stage been lifted, lowered or moved by one of these little mechanised workhorses.

Entitled ‘Warehouse Life’, this superb recreation of the most humdrum of scenes comes from previous bloggee and TLCB Master MOCer Norton74, it was suggested to us by a reader, and you can see more of the build in detail by clicking here.

From Flickr to Stores…

Lego Caterham Seven Set

Master MOCers is back!… And Episode 2 is blurring the lines between itself and the Become a Pro series more than ever before. Today’s interviewee could well fit into either category, but as recipients of the Master MOCers award are rumoured to receive a priceless trophy, he thought this series best.

Carl Greatrix has appeared here several times over the years, most recently with the evolution of his stunning Caterham Seven model. Thanks to the LEGO Ideas platform that model has now become a real LEGO set, officially licensed by Caterham themselves, and is available to buy today! From the pages of Flickr to the shelves of stores, Carl has made his Lego dream happen. Find out how via the link below…

Master MOCers, Series 2, Episode 2

Carl Greatrix

Hello TLCB Readers! My name is Carl Greatrix, I’m a member of the Brickish Association (U.K. LUG), I’m also the Senior LEGO Model Designer for TT Games / Warner Bros (for the official LEGO video games), and I now have my own LEGO Ideas set produced, the Caterham Seven 620R – 21307. Continue reading…

Lego Caterham Seven Set

Cinquecento!

Lego Fiat 500

LEGO have been doing fantastically well out of their expansion into officially licensed automotive partnerships. Fans love the sets, as they get a real-world car to build, and it’s great publicity for car manufacturers too – a child playing with a LEGO version of their product today may buy one for real when they grow up!

MINI, Volkswagen, Ferrari, Volvo, Porsche, McLaren, and most recently Caterham have all seen one or more of their vehicles recreated in Danish plastic, and the collaboration of saabfan2013 and Gabriele Zannotti would like to add another iconic car to LEGO’s officially licensed line-up.

Lego FIAT 500

This is, of course, the wonderful original Fiat 500 (or Cinquecento in Italian) which saabfan and Gabriele have recreated beautifully in LEGO form. Featuring opening doors, bonnet and engine lid, as well as a detailed interior, this little Fiat looks the prefect companion to the already released MINI Cooper and Volkswagen Beetle Creator sets available to buy today.

If you like it as much as we do you can support the Fiat 500 on the LEGO Ideas platform, whereby your votes could turn this design into an official LEGO set! Add your vote by clicking here, and you can see more of the build at saabfan‘s Flickr photostream by clicking here.

Lego Fiat 500 F

Mr. T

Lego Ford Model T

Long before jibba-jabba was quit and fools were pitied, Mr. T was rather different. Here he is doffing his cap to a lady on the sidewalk while taking his splendid new automobile out for a drive. Flickr’s _Tyler is the builder of this neat Model T scene and there’s more to see here.

Dig This

Lego Technic RC Excavator

We were going to start this post by stating that good things come in eights, but we ran out of ideas after hot dog buns, pirate gold, and octopus tentacles. No matter, because this superb remote control Technic excavator from Brickshelf’s pipasseyoyo can add another group of eight to the list, as it has eight Power Functions motors packed inside.

Controlling everything from the boom elevation, superstructure rotation, stabilisers, blade, and bucket, this excavator is a real showcase for what LEGO motors can do when in the right hands. There’s a huge gallery of images available, plus a link to a video of those eight motors in action, at pipasseyoyo’s Brickshelf account – click the link above if you dig it.

Lego Technic RC Excavator

Gallic Garage

Lego Town Garage

This charming Town garage comes from newcomer brickbink of Flickr, and it is quite gloriously French. A Citroen 2CV van, Renault 4 (we think), and a baguette all add gallic authenticity, and there’s more to see at the link above.

Lego Town Garage