This ultra-lightweight 4×4 Technic crawler is not a looker. But is is very capable. With just one XL motor for drive, White Shapes‘ ‘4-Links Mini-Crawler’ can climb almost anything. Suggested by a reader you can see more on MOCpages at the link above, and via the video below.
YouTube Video:
After today’s earlier sci-fi aircraft* we have another to post – although this one is slightly more modest. This inventive recreation of Far Cry 4’s gyrocopter was found on Flickr. It’s the work of Wookieewarrior and there’s more to see here.
*We’ll try to get back to cars tomorrow!
TLCB staff have yet to see the new Star Wars – The Force Awakens movie, but from the reactions to it from some of the proper blogs you’d think that Jesus Christ himself had returned to earth.
Unfortunately this hysteria can only mean one thing for the prices of LEGO’s past official Star Wars sets. With the 2007 official LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon set already fetching absurd money in the nerdier corners of eBay, if you want a Lego version of the iconic spaceship it’s probably best to build your own.
Marshal Banana has done just this, taking over a year to construct his incredible 7,500 piece, 10kg Millennium Falcon replica. There’s some trick third-party lighting throughout the build and a few wonderfully edited photographs of the Falcon in flight too. Make the jump to hyperspace* at the link to Marshal’s photostream above.
*Or something.
It’s Boxing Day, when the meaning of Christmas is promptly forgotten to make way for the scourge of the Boxing Day Sales. So what better time is there to focus on the money associated with our favourite building toy, which has been picked up by the major newspapers this week for being a better investment than gold. And property. And stocks…
This is of course something that the online Lego community has known for ages, and that’s been mentioned here at TLCB a few times too. Prices for some discontinued LEGO sets are ridiculous; the most valuable set in the current listings is the Ultimate Collector’s Millennium Falcon set shown below, released in 2007 for £342, and now worth a staggering £2,712!
Even the Millennium Falcon doesn’t offer the highest return though. That honour goes to the Cafe Corner modular Town set, which sold 8 years ago for £89.99. Today the Cafe Corner sells for an average of £2,096, meaning it’s currently making a return on investment of 2,230%!
So, how can you maximise your investment in LEGO? According to Ed Maciorowski of BrickPicker, sets released after 1999 are generating the highest returns, whether they are big or small, but they must be kept unopened in their box, away from sunlight and moisture. Once the set is out of production its value to collectors could start to skyrocket.
However, The Lego Car Blog would like offer some different Lego investment advice; 1. Open the box, empty the contents, and then put it in the recycling. 2. Build the set. 3. Play with the completed set, as often as you can, and in as much direct sunlight as possible. Because that is when a LEGO set is at its most valuable.
You can read the full Daily Telegraph article on how LEGO has become the investment of choice by clicking here, but whatever investors claim their sets are worth, we’ll still be taking ours out of the box…
We’re back! The Elves have been re-released after their enforced Christmas ‘break’, and they must be hungry because this superb Town-scale American fire truck was returned to the office within minutes.
It’s been built by Steven Asbury of MOCpages, it’s packed with detail, and it has a whole host of nice play features too. There’s more to see at the link above.
It’s only three more sleeps ’til Christmas! Memories/regrets from TLCB Christmas Party are still (unfortunately) strongly etched into our conscious, TLCB Elves have been gathered up and returned to their cages, and the office is now hauntingly quiet – save for the click-clacking of this writer’s keyboard echoing out into the emptiness.
We’ll be back in a few days to continue bringing you the very best Lego vehicles that the web has to offer, until then – from all of us here at TLCB – have a very Merry Christmas!
TLCB Team
I wish that I could fly
Into the sky
So very high
Just like a dragonfly
I’d fly above the trees
Over the seas in all degrees
To anywhere I please
The lovely Lego Biplane comes from Flickr’s 6kyubi6. See more here.
It’s that time of year again! A crack team of Elves was dispatched a couple of weeks ago into LEGO’s closely guarded HQ, and those successful at avoiding German shepherds have been returning to TLCB Towers over the past few days. We now have the complete range of Technic sets for the first half of 2016, so without further ado, we can bring you the brand new 2016 LEGO Technic line-up!
42048 Go Kart
An interesting colour choice for LEGO’s first 2016 set, and also one that sets the tone for 2016’s use of stickers; 42048 uses a lot of them. Underneath that be-stickered body is a model that we rather like, and one with some excellent proper Technic functions too. Working steering and a rear-wheel driven single-cylinder engine feature in 42048, which contains approximately 350 parts and will retail for an estimated price of £25/$30. A thumbs up from TLCB.
42044 Display Team Jet
On to the smallest set in the 2016 line-up; the circa-115 piece Display Team Jet. Again there are lots of stickers in evidence, but this time there’s not much substance underneath them. Retractable landing gear is the only working function here. Still, 42044 will be cheap at around $15. Next…
42045 Hydroplane Racer
There hasn’t been a Technic boat for some time (that we can remember anyway), so the 2016 Hydroplane Racer is a welcome return for anyone into water-borne vehicles. 42045 features even more stickers than its entry-level counterparts, although they do look rather nice to this reviewer’s eyes, and includes just under 200 pieces. Amongst these are a working straight-4 engine which is turned by a pair of hidden wheels underneath the bodywork. Expect 42045 to retail for around £15/$20 when it’s launched next year.
42046 Getaway Racer & 42047 Police Intercepter
We’ve not much to say about LEGO’s new pull-back racers because, well – they look like this. More stickers and nothing else to see, although 42046 and 42047 can be combined to create something that is – somewhat unbelievably – even more hideous than the two individual models above. Each will have an RRP of £15/$20 and contain 170-ish pieces. Moving swiftly on…
42049 Mine Loader
On to the bigger stuff… This peculiar looking device is a mining loader, built for travelling the subterranean roads in the world’s deep mines. 42049 contains nearly 500 pieces, including a huge turntable for central articulation, a two-cylinder engine (which seems rather small), and a manually controlled grasping clamp, meaning it has both adequate mechanical functionality and play value. Expect 42049 to cost around £30/$40 when it reaches stores early in 2016.
42050 Drag Racer
If TLCB seems a little underwhelmed by LEGO’s 2016 Technic offerings so far it’s because, er… we are. But our mood changes a bit with this; the brilliant-looking 42050 Drag Racer! Designed to resemble the ‘Funny Car’ silhouette drag racers that light up the tarmac at strips across the U.S, 42050 is the most exciting mid-size Technic set to be launched in ages. With circa-650 pieces – including some lovely new blue panels – a huge working V8 engine, lifting bodywork and working steering, 42050 is something of a supercar-lite. There’s a traditional drag racer B-Model too, which is actually rather good itself. £60/$70 is our estimate, and this is one model we hope to add to our Set Review Library next year!
42052 Heavy Lift Helicopter
The final set for 2016 sits at the top of the Technic tree; the 1,042 piece Heavy Lift Helicopter. Featuring Power Functions motorisation, co-axial rotors, a working winch and retractible landing gear, 42052 leads the 2016 range with functionality. The orange and white colour scheme looks rather nice we think, and is further enhanced with (you’ve guessed it) lots of stickerage. The new Heavy Lift Helicopter will reach stores in early 2016, with a heavy price to match; you’ll need to save up over £100/$120 to lift this set home.
Overall 2016 looks a bit of a mixed bag, much like 2015, but just like this year we can expect the really cool stuff to arrive in the second half of the year… did someone say ‘new supercar?’…
You can read our reviews of some of the sets in 2015 Technic line-up by visiting the Set Review Library – click here to see what our experts made of this year’s official LEGO Technic products.
Previous bloggee Angka Utama reminds us of one of our favourite childhood sweets, made from a nutritious blend of e-colourings and gelatine, with his 6-wide ‘Track Day Car’. Give it a lick at his photostream via the link above.
TLCB has been very red of late, with seven of the last eight creations featured being crimson in hue. There might have been some kind of Elf pact going on, but today we can add some colour diversity to this page with a neat laid-back spacey motorcycle.
Featuring Classic Space’s iconic blue and grey colour scheme, a nifty bubble canopy, and a permanently smiling mini-figure, newcomer Brian Grissom‘s ‘LL-513 Surveillance Rover’ could have come straight from the late ’80s. Jump back in time with Brian’s photostream via the link above.
With working steering, bouncy independent suspension, a mid-mounted V8 engine, a two-speed transmission and all-wheel-drive, this replica of the 1967 off road racer ‘Baja Boot’ (once owned by Hollywood legend Steve McQueen) looks as fun as the real thing.
Built by newcomer Erix there’s lots more to see on both Eurobricks and Brickshelf – click the links to take a look.
The LEGO Company make almost everything you could ever need when building your own creation. From electric motors to infrared receivers to suspension components, there is a huge back-catalogue of parts available to allow your model to do nearly anything you wish it to. Nearly…
We’re breaking our own house rules with this post, as today’s creation is not quite entirely LEGO, but it shows the level of awesomeness that our favourite Danish toy can achieve when combined with a few well-chosen third-party products.
So, let’s get them out of the way; this monstrous replica of Tim Cameron’s 700bhp rock crawler ‘Showtime’ by the brilliant SevenStuds is fitted with non-LEGO tyres, a non-LEGO control system and (technically) non-LEGO bodywork.
Those tyres are Interco IROK 1.55s – as found in the RC 4×4 racing scene – mounted on official LEGO Technic wheels, and they give SevenStuds’ Showtime incredible traction. This traction is needed because the chassis contains four LEGO Power Functions XL motors, one for each wheel, and a servo motor that provides all-wheel-steering.
These five motors are controlled by two third-party SBrick units, allowing Showtime to be driven and steered with moderation; The motors aren’t limited to being ‘on’ or ‘off’ as per LEGO’s own IR receiver, but can be graduated between the two via bluetooth to a mobile device.
Lastly, the bodywork is made from non-LEGO pneumatic hosing, but only because LEGO’s own offering is not available in red.
These additions compliment a fully LEGO chassis complete with four-wheel-drive, four-wheel-steering, four-link suspension and portal hubs, and make Showtime one of the most capable off-road creations that this site has ever featured.
You can read all the details on SevenStuds’ build at the Eurobricks discussion forum here, plus you can see what it can do via the superbly produced video below.*
YouTube Video:
*After watching this TLCB office is immeasurably relieved that we got hold of this creation before the Elves did. Imagine the carnage…
This little 1970s Hong Kong style truck comes from previous bloggee shineyu of Eurobricks. There’s a remote control drivetrain hidden inside the neat Technic body and you can see more at the Eurobricks discussion forum via the link above.
Courtesy of Devid VII this mini-figure has been pictured having a forking good time. You can see more of his big green forking machine on Flickr via the link above.
