We’re not really sure that the Ghostbusters franchise was in need of a reboot for 2016, but you never know, it might be good. Whatever the outcome, it’s given TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg aka Mad Physicist another movie car to recreate for his collection. You can see more of his 2016 ECTO-1 complete with characters from the latest Ghostbusters movie on Flickr at the link above.
It’s been a while since the last Elf Squashing (at the hands of a remote control Lego creation anyway – we may have stepped on a few…). Today though normal service was resumed as several of our Elven workforce were mown down in the corridors of TLCB Towers by this; paave‘s brilliant remote control trophy truck.
With front and rear suspension, steering by M motor and power delivered to the rear wheels by a LEGO Buggy Motor, paave’s lightweight racer is a properly quick bit of kit. See just how quick via the video below, and you can see more images on MOCpages at the link above or at the Eurobricks forum here.
YouTube Video:
This neat BMW R100-based cafe racer was found on Flickr today and it comes from previous bloggee Andre Pinto. Andre’s used a clever mish-mash of Technic and System parts to create his motorbike and there lots of superb imagery to see at his photostream. Click the link above for the full gallery.
The Swedes; famous for their flatpack furniture, attractive blondes, and – as we can see here – their fighter aircraft. This is a 1950 Saab 21R, and it does look a bit like someone read the instructions upside-down when they opened the box to assemble it. Fear not though, it is supposed to look like that, and being one of the very earliest jet-powered aircraft the Saab’s twin-boom tail design was actually a common solution back in the late ’40s and early ’50s.
The Saab 21R was developed from the earlier piston-engined Saab 21 as an attack aircraft to help Sweden quickly catch up with the other airforces’ jet-engined counterparts. British jet maker de Havilland supplied their ‘Goblin II’ engine from the magnificent Vampire fighter, and Saab shoved it in the back of their 21 to jump them into the jet-age, making the 21R one of only two aircraft in history to be retro-fitted with a jet engine.
The 21R saw service for only six short years before it was replaced by the Saab 29 Tunnan, which was designed as a jet from the outset, and only around 60 were made. Nevertheless we quite like the 21R – shoving a much more powerful engine into something clearly never designed for it is the hot rodder’s way!
This brilliant Lego recreation of Saab’s ’50s airborne hot rod is the work of previous bloggee Stefan Johansson, and it’s a wonderfully intricate build. You can see more of it and Stefan’s other historic Saab aircraft at his Flickr photostream – click the link above to take off.
That’s right! The Master MOCers Series has awoken like a bear from hibernation, and it’s ready to raid your bins and steal your picnic! There are new questions, more pictures, and apparently there’s even a trophy.
We kick-off Series 2 with one of the finest vehicle and diorama builders anywhere in the world, the brilliant Andrea Lattanzio aka Norton74!
Click on the giant link below to read Andrea’s Lego-building story, who he’d like to ride in the passenger seat of a classic Porsche, and why he’s a 6×6 tile…
Hello TLCB Readers! My name is Andrea Lattanzio but in the international LEGO community I’m also known as Norton74. Why Norton? Besides my passion for LEGO bricks I’ve always been involved in vintage car and motorcycle issues and I have always been fascinated by the style of Norton motorcycles. Why 74? It’s quite easy to guess…
I’m Italian and I live in Milan with my Spanish wife and two children. I work in the communication department of an Italian non profit organisation. I’m of course a petrolhead and I like especially classic cars, motorcycles and in general vintage stuff and style. In 1995 I founded – with one of my best friends Mauro Zambetta – Officina Super Sprint, a little garage specialized in classic scooter restoration... Continue Reading…
Nope, us neither – but apparently the Avtoros Wamah Shaman 8×8 is a Russian amphibious all-terrain vehicle presumably designed to get teams of engineers to remote pipelines and suchlike, but which will probably end up with diamante paint-job parked outside an exclusive Moscow nightclub.
Which is a shame, as the Shaman is quite a vehicle; able to climb 45 degrees, crab steer, and propel itself across open water. This incredible Technic recreation of the Russian ATV is the work of previous bloggee Madoca 1977, and it can do most of that lot too.
With each axle powered by a separate L motor and two servo motors for steering, Madoca’s Shaman has both 8-wheel drive and 8-wheel steering. Just like the real vehicle it’s able to crab steer too, which is remotely selectable by a M motor. Another M motor powers the winch, there’s 3 sets of LEDs, all-wheel independent suspension, and opening doors, hood and roof hatch.
Power is provided by twin on-board rechargeable batteries and is distributed to the eight Power Functions motors by two third-party SBrick bluetooth controllers. It’s one of the most impressively engineered creations of the year and there’s a whole lot more to see, including a video of it in action, at the Eurobricks discussion forum – click this link to check it out.
This excellent Town-scale Terberg* FM-2000 and Bee excavator pairing comes from Flickr’s Smigol. Both are brilliantly detailed and show just how good Lego models can look even at a small scale. There’s more to see at Smigol’s photostream – click the link above to make the jump.
*Which looks suspiciously like a Volvo to us. If you know why reply in the comments!
Today is America’s Independence Day, when – if our memory serves us correctly – Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum saved Earth from an Alien invasion. In celebration, here’s a pig on a motorbike! Sorry America, we’ve had a lot of sugar today.
If you’d like to learn more about Independence Day visit your local library,* and if you’d like to see more of the motorcycle-riding hog, courtesy of Brickshelf’s icemonster, click this link.
*Or use the internet. It’s 2016.
Who knows what it is that classic spacemen have been doing for nearly thirty years, but it always seems to put a smile on their face. TLCB favourite and classic space extraordinaire Billyburg returns to these pages with an update to his classic space portfolio that now includes an SUV (Space Utility Vehicle), and hover bot for… er, hovering. Billyburg has posted his classic space renaissance to the Lego Ideas platform – click the link above to see more and where you can follow a link to vote for it to become an official LEGO set.
TLCB favourite, Master MOCer and Technic-building legend Sheepo is back! This is his latest creation, a near-perfect working replica of the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
Powered by two XL motors plus a Medium motor for steering Sheepo’s Wrangler is a serious bit of off-road kit. In addition to the three RC drive motors are a further two, one controlling a 5+R gearbox and another the high/low range gearbox and two and four wheel drive selection with the option of locking differentials.
Such clever engineering gives Sheepo’s Wrangler some pretty decent miniaturised off-road hardware, meaning it’s probably nearly as fun to drive as the real thing. And it’ll get better gas mileage. There’s lots more to see at the Eurobricks forum and on Sheepo’s excellent website, plus you can see the Rubicon in action via the video below.
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This interesting looking Technic Supercar comes from Eurobrick’s Anto. Taking inspiration from LEGO’s official Supercars from the ’90s there’s not a Power Functions motor in (or out of) sight, and instead old-fashioned mechanical goodness abounds. Working steering, independent suspension, opening doors, hood and trunk and a V10 engine and gearbox are all included, and you can read the full details at the link above.
Our set review of LEGO’s 1980 Technic 8860 Car Chassis is one of the site’s most popular pages of all time. And for good reason. 8860 is the genesis of Technic Supercars and took the whole concept of large LEGO sets in an entirely new (and brilliant) direction, without which we probably wouldn’t have 2016’s Technic Porsche 911 GT3. OK, perhaps that’s not a great example, but we’d certainly miss 8880, 8448 and many of the sets that followed.
Just thinking about 8860 gets much of TLCB office so wistful and nostalgic it’s like mentioning food rationing to your grandparents. Paul Boratko (aka Crowkillers) hasn’t helped productivity here today then with his wonderful modern interpretation of LEGO’s 1980 icon.
Built using the latest studless Technic parts Paul’s 8860 redux is instantly recognisable, yet upgrades the venerable old set in every key area. Working steering, all-wheel suspension, adjustable seats, and a functioning gearbox hooked up to a flat-6 engine all feature, alongside modern tyres and LEGO’s latest parts designs.
It’s a creation that’s well worth further investigation, and you can do so at Paul’s MOCpage or via the Eurobricks discussion forum here. You can also read our interview with Paul in Master MOCers Series 1 here, and you can check out our review of the original 8860 Technic set from 1980 via the Set Review Library.
Regular readers of The Lego Car Blog will know how popular LEGO’s Power Functions components have become – barely a day goes by without a model appearing here that utilises them. However, good as LEGO’s efforts are, there is room for improvement. Firstly the infrared control mechanism can falter in bright sunlight, and secondly power and variability of control is limited.
Third-party designer Roni Leben and his team think that they have the answer with this, the BuWizz integrated remote control and battery. Performing the job of a battery box and two IR receivers, the BuWizz is a totally LEGO-compatible product that brings bluetooth control, micro-USB charging and variable speed options to LEGO’s Power Functions motors. Plus it does all this whilst providing eight times more power than LEGO’s own set-up.
Controllable via Apple or Android devices the BuWizz offers a similar solution to the previously seen SBrick bluetooth control unit, but with the added benefits of a rechargeable on-board battery and a much greater power density than LEGO’s own battery unit.
The BuWizz remote control and battery brick is not yet available, however you can help make it happen! A Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign is live now, with a target of $50,000 required to bring the product to market.
You can find out more about the BuWizz brick, watch a video of it in action, and back the project to help bring it to market via the BuWizz Kickstarter Page – Click the link below to get involved!
This is a High Mobility and Speed Military Armoured Vehicle, and it looks just the thing to one-up all the Range Rover, Volvo XC90, BMW X5 and Audi Q7 drivers on the school run – although the way things are going outside some of the school gates around TLCB Towers, we really wouldn’t be surprised if things like this start showing up before long…
If you’re interested in acquiring a HIMOS to ensure that little Octavia and Tarquin are delivered to their education establishment safely Vibor Cavor is the man to contact; place your order via Flickr or MOCpages via the links!
This is not the best looking recreation of Knight Rider’s KITT (that accolade belongs here or here). But KITT’s genius wasn’t found in the way that it looked, but in what lay hidden inside. This is Gabor Horvath’s remote controlled KITT, and what’s underneath is a simply astonishing piece of Lego engineering.
Gabor’s KITT contains six Power Functions motors, the first being a Large motor driving the rear wheels through a differential, and the second being a Servo motor for steering. The remaining four motors are all needed to give the model KITT’s most recognisable feature; its lights.
Up front a set of pop-up headlights are controlled via a Medium motor, whilst another Medium motor switches them on. Sitting in-between these is KITT’s scanner, which oscillates back and forth via an ingenious linear-actuator operated mechanism. It’s a properly clever solution, which Gabor has detailed through a series of images and in a neat video.
See full details of how it all works via Gabor’s MOCpage, Flickr photostream or at the Eurobricks discussion forum.