Eurotrash

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Lego Technic Volvo FE Refuse Truck

This is not one of the more sexy vehicles to appear here at The Lego Car Blog. It is, as any European reader will know, a humble Volvo refuse truck. But it one of the most well thought-out Technic creations to appear here in a very long time.

There are no remote control components, no motors, and no pneumatics, but this model has mechanical functionality by the wheelie bin load. Built by previous bloggee Thirdwigg the little Volvo features a mechanical bin lift, compacter, extraction plate, hopper, piston engine, steering, tilting cab and opening hopper. It’s just the sort of model that we wish LEGO would add to the Technic range themselves, and there’s lots more to see on Flickr and Eurobricks at the links.

Lego Technic Volvo Garbage Truck

Honey, I shrunk the Volkswagen!

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Lego Volkswagen T1 Camper RC

LEGO’s 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper set is a firm favourite with builders and TLCB staff alike. Suggested by a reader, xin zhao‘s 10-wide version looks like the official set was put on too hot a wash, yet it’s much more than simply a small-scale version of LEGO’s own VW. Underneath the famous microbus bodywork is a full remote control drivetrain, with an L Motor for drive, Servo steering, an infrared receiver and a battery box – all cunningly concealed inside where you’d usually expect to find a collection of tie-die garments and some medicinal herbs. There’s more to see on MOCpages – click the link above to make the trip.

Drag Queen

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Lego Drag Rod

No, not that bachelor party entertainment that you’d really rather forget, but this, _Tiler‘s beautifully smooth Town-scale drag rod. We’re not really sure where the engine is, but damn it looks good. There’s more on Flickr at the link above, just check for an Adam’s Apple…

6×6 + RC + Truck = Fun!

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Lego Technic RC Truck Trial

We got a bit drunk last night, and thus today isn’t going to be very productive. Luckily one of our readers has stepped in to keep TLCB functioning with a Guest Blog. Nils O, a previous bloggee himself, picks up the pen…

The headline says it all, so there should be no need to say much more… but hey, that would be a boring blog entry, wouldn’t it?

I found this fun promising RC Truck on the frontpage of MOCpages a few days ago and didn’t really notice it at the first look. But then I opened the page and thought: “Wow!… It must be so much fun to drive a truck like this one!” As I am not there at TLCB Towers, I can’t see it, but I bet the Elves will play with this thing for hours until they (or the batteries) get exhausted. (By the way, I want my blue Smartie, an M&M would be OK, too… – You can send it via E-Mail) ;-).

The truck has a 6×6 drive train powered by six Buggy motors, with a live axle in the front and bogie suspension in the rear, plus portal gears on each wheel. All of that complexity looks to work very well, providing quite a rigid suspension system perfect for difficult terrain, and the truck seems to be quite fast too (that’ll be those six Buggy motors! Ed.). The body is custom designed looks very cool – as if it were custom built truck for real life Truck Trial competitions.

The builder behind it is Desert752 Kirill, and you can find full details of his this “Fun Truck” and more of the builder’s amazing Technic creations on MOCpages via the links above.

Thanks to Nils for filling in today. You can check out his own models via the link above, and if you’d like to suggest a creation, or even guest blog one, you can leave us a comment on our Feedback and Submission Suggestions page here.

Poseidon

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Lego Sea King Helicopter

Nope, not the slightly dodgy remake of the slightly dodgy film of the 1969 book by American novelist Paul Gallico, but this – the King of the Sea, the Sikorsky/Westland SH-3 Sea King helicopter – the aircraft of choice for maritime rescue agencies the world over. This lovely 1:40 scale mini-figure version of the iconic helicopter comes from Flickr’s [Maks] and there’s more to see at the link.

Desert Patrol

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Lego Technic RC Buggy

This TLCB writer was hoping for a quiet afternoon watching the Spa Grand Prix qualifying today. Sadly one of our Elves had other ideas. A victim of several smushings in the past, today it found the creation it had longed for ever since it was first released from its cage.

Lightweight, stealthy black, remote control with twin L Motors driving the rear wheels, and with gloriously bouncy suspension, 1711902090‘s* ‘Desert Patrol’ RC buggy was the perfect find for an aggrieved Elf. It even has a machine gun (thankfully non-functioning) mounted to the front.

The result of all that remote control goodness floated down the corridor to TLCB office in the form of Elven screaming followed by a significant bang. Sigh. A weary trudge to the corridor outside revealed the buggy upside-down, rear wheels still spinning, with a trail of variously smushed Elves stretching down the carpet behind it and three still tangled up inside the wreckage.

We’ll sort out the Elven injuries later, for now you can join us looking at the creation that caused them on Brickshelf – click the link above to make the jump.

*Who really needs a better online name.

Plan B

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Lego Technic Group B Rally Car

Back in the mid-’80s world rally cars were a very different animal to those racing today. With only the loosest affiliation to their road-going counterparts, the racers of Group B took rallying (and then rally-cross, after they were banned from the WRC in 1987) to a whole new level or speed, and – unsurprisingly – risk. Formula 1 had mostly cleaned up its safety record by the mid-’80s, however Group B rallying ensured that professional motorsport continued to send people home in boxes.

A series of fatalities in 1986 prompted the FIA to act, and it was to be Group B’s last WRC season. The cars were not forgotten though, with many transferring to rally-cross, whilst Peugeot updated their monstrous 205 T16 to run in the Paris-Dakar rally, winning in ’87. ’89 and ’90.

Previous bloggee and Technic legend Nico71 hasn’t forgotten either, paying homage to the insanity of Group B with his latest creation, this superb Technic Group B rally car. Based on no particular model Nico’s model looks a bit like an Opel Astra to us (if Opel has created a Group B challenger), and it’s packed with mechanical Technic functions. These include a mid-mounted V6 engine, all-wheel-drive with three differentials, working steering both by the wheel and Hand-of-God, opening doors and rear engine bodywork, and fully independent suspension on all wheels.

As the time of writing Nico’s latest build isn’t on Brickshelf or the other main creation-sharing websites (big points for the Elf that found it!), but you can see all the details, a huge gallery of high quality images, and access instructions to build this model yourself at Nico’s own website. Click the link above to head to a forest in 1985.

Lego Technic Group B WRC Nico71

Life on the Edge

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Lego Technic Ford Edge RC

After the near collapse of America’s ‘Big Three’ auto manufacturers following decades of crappy products, poor investment and safety cover-ups, Ford have progressed rather well. Their ‘One Ford’ programme is central to the company’s recovery, and it aims to create cars that are suitable for multiple markets, in doing so leveraging greater economies of scale and utilising Ford’s breadth of expertise around the world.

The results are that America gets down-sized turbo engines and the Focus and Fiesta from Europe (a Good Thing), and here in Europe we get the South American Ecosport crossover (Not a Good Thing), the new Europe-friendly Mustang (a Very Good Thing) and – in the last few weeks – this; the large American-developed Edge SUV.

The jury is still out on whether this is a Good Thing or not, as although the European Edge comes with EU-friendly turbo-diesels, it’s a bit big and a bit soft to appeal to European reviewers. Still, they’re largely numpties anyway because no-one wants to throw a car round a corner at 60mph if it has two kids and a labrador in the back, yet this seems to be a priority for every automotive journalist.

Anyhoo, what we are certain of is that this Technic recreation of Ford’s latest offensive into the European SUV market is absolutely brilliant. Built by Flickr’s chumuhou it features a full remote control drivetrain with two L Motors powering all four wheels, Servo steering, all-wheel independent suspension, opening doors, hood and trunk, and a beautifully realistic interior. There’s lots more to see at chumuhou’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the jump to check it out.

Lego Technic Ford Edge Remote Control 4x4

8069 Backhoe Loader Review

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Lego Technic 8069 Backhoe Review

PC or Mac? Ford or GM? Edward or Jacob? These are the questions that have dominated our age. However since 2008 a new and even more important choice has arisen, one that has conflicted the minds of academics and that has caused lifelong friends to stop talking. So… Linear Actuators or Pneumatics?

Thirdwigg, returning to TLCB for his second Reader Review (and risking ostracisation by half of the online Lego Community), is brave enough to make his case…

Bias alert: in the Linear Actuator vs. Pneumatics debate I am conclusively in the former group. Feel free to send your “dear idiot letters” to thirdwigg.com, I can handle it. After the release of the Large Linear Actuators (LA) from 8295 and 8294, it was clear to me they were an improvement over pneumatics. They had a simple design, better integration with Power Functions and manual controls, actual mid-range control, and no clunky hoses to connect and manage in your model. But I still felt like something was missing after the LAs. Something shorter, smaller. When we first got teasers images of 8069 I was excited. Did it have what I was looking for?

Like most sets, this one comes in a box. You have to open it. It has parts in it. 609. And it costs $60. The tyres, buckets and stickers are loose in the box, along with two loose instruction manuals for the A model. B model instructions are online. All you need to know about new parts in 8069 is that it is the first set that included Mini Linear Actuators (mLA). You get four of them. You also get two yellow panels (they are kind of rare, it turns out), the buckets, lots of gears, yellow parts, and the mLAs. They are great. Great.

The build starts with the chassis and the front steering, then quickly onto building a worm gear submodel. “What’s this” you think? It’s for the bucket tilt. We’ll come back to this. Two mLAs are used to provide the bucket lift. Then off to the rear, where you start building a complex structure of gears for the rear bucket. The design is good, and teaches many gear structures including worm and bevel gearing. It also offers a great lesson on how to build good cross supporting structures in Technic when the rear supports are added.

You then build the cabin, which has some nice details. Next all the rear backhoe controls placed on the top and the backhoe is added with a neat little design for the two stages of movement utilizing two of the mLAs. Finally the fenders are added, the front bucket is placed, you add the wheels, and you are done.

Lego Technic 8069 Backhoe Loader

The finished 8069 model has a lot of functions; steering, bucket lift, bucket tilt, backhoe slew, backhoe arm, backhoe bucket, and rear stabilizers. For a set of this size it’s an impressive list. How well do they work? Better than pneumatics (zing!). The steering is light, and the turning radius is stunning (Hurrah! Ed.), especially if you take out the ¾ pins in the steering. You might bump the hood a bit on full lock, but it’s worth it. The bucket lift is excellent – it’s strong, and the controls are easy to use. The range of motion is good; though a little more height would be welcome. Continue reading →

Bugger Me

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Lego Ford Anglia Harry Potter

Crashed into the Buggering Birch, Ron Weasley’s 1960’s Ford Anglia has never been the same since. Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist imagines happier times, before the horny tree had its way with the unfortunate car, with this superb Lego recreation of the little blue Ford, Ron and Harry. There’s more to see at Ralph’s Flickr photostream – click the link above to lube up.

Son of Saab

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Lego Saab JA37 Viggen

Flickr’s Stefan Johansson has appeared here several times this year with his meticulously recreated Saab aircraft. His latest is one of Saab Aero’s newer offerings – the fearsome JA37 Viggen – and this time Stefan has branched away from his usual stealthy grey to brick-build a full camouflage livery. There’s more to see on Flickr at Stefan’s photostream – click the link above to take off.

Sunshine Scania

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Lego Technic RC Scania Truck

Another day and another Elf returns to TLCB Towers in the hope of receiving a meal token and a Smartie. A hope realised, as this remote control Technic Scania truck is just the sort of model that this blog was created for. Built by newcomer Fig850 it features RC drive, steering and tilting cab (powered by an L motor each), a remotely operated three-speed gearbox, a V8 piston engine and working front and rear suspension. You can see more via Eurobricks at the link above whilst we dispense a yellow Smartie to a happy Elf.

Black Devil

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Lego Technic RC Supercar

Remote control models have become incredibly popular since the introduction of LEGO’s excellent Power Functions motors and infrared control system. This Corvettesque creation, the latest build by Chade of Flickr and Eurobricks, packs in the full suite of Power Functions components underneath its beautifully neat bodywork. Two L Motors drive the rear wheels whilst a Servo allows for precise steering control, the on-board battery is hidden within the chassis, and LEDs are utilised to give the front lights realism.

The whole package has been very thoroughly engineered by Chade, making this creation one of the neatest RC builds we’ve seen in a while. There’s lots more to see, including images of the chassis and drivetrain, on both Flickr and Eurbricks – click the links above to make the jump.

Lego Technic Corvette C7

Space Cab Cominatie

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Lego DAF CF 460 Space Cab

This superb DAF CF 460 Space Cab ‘combinatie’ truck and trailer was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr. It’s the work of DAF-building specialist and previous bloggee Arian Janssens, who churns out DAF truck models of the highest quality and a prodigious rate. There’s lots more to see of Arian’s latest build, which includes a variety of load and trailer colour schemes and combinations, via his Flickr photostream – click the link above to make the jump.

Sky Shed

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Lego Airship

This glorious contraption is apparently a Cargo SkyBoat, and it’s utterly wonderful in every single way. Not knowing anything about Cargo SkyBoats, and having pinched this from Bricknerd, we’ll leave it there, but you can see lots more courtesy of Alexis Dos Santos on Flickr. Click on these words to get airborne.