Off-Road Alternative

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The excellent LEGO Technic 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 set has successfully brought one of the market’s best known 4x4s to bedroom floors (or more likely Dads’ shelves) everywhere.

But what if you like retro-looking off-roaders but you’re not a wealthy Russian laundering money in the South of England? (Who seem to make up 100% of the G Wagen owners around TLCB Towers). Previous bloggee gyenesvi has the answer!

Using only the parts from the official 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 set, gyenesvi has created this superb Land Rover 90, complete with all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-suspension, working steering, an inline-4 engine, an operational gearbox, opening and locking doors, a detailed interior, and a whole heap of accessories.

The result is so good you’d be hard pressed to know it’s an alternate, and with building instructions available you can rebuild your own Mercedes-Benz G 500 into a Land Rover 90 too.

There’s much more of gyenesvi’s phenomenal 42177 B-Model to see at the Eurobricks forum, where a detailed description and further links can be found, plus the complete image gallery is available to view at Bricksafe.

Why Do Only Fools and Horses Work?

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And now for something that every one of our British readers will immediately recognise, the optimistically named Reliant Regal Supervan. Most famously wearing ‘Trotters Independent Trading Co’ livery, the Supervan was one the stars of the cult comedy ‘Only Fools and Horses’, in which it carried all manner of dodgy wares around Peckham, including – in this case – blow-up dolls that took their brief rather literally…

Newcomer BobKickflip is the builder behind this one, who has replicated it, its iconic ‘Trotters’ livery, and its payload of explosive replica females brilliantly. There’s more of the model to see, including a link building instructions, at Bob’s photostream, and you can head to Hookie Street via the link above.

The Name’s McMissile…

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Disney Pixar’s ‘Cars 2’ featured a rather familiar looking character. Merging James Bond, Q-branch’s Aston Martin DB5, and a Michael Caine voice-over, Finn McMissile was as British a spy car as it was possible to conceive.

Cue newcomer Danny_Boy4, who has taken LEGO’s officially-licensed 10262 Aston Martin DB5 ‘Goldfinger’ set and redeployed its pieces to create the ‘Cars 2’ character inspired by the real Aston Martin the set replicated.

A thorough redesign moves the bodywork away from the DB5 source to match Pixar’s interpretation of it, and adds ‘Cars’ trademark windshield-eyes and (ingeniously) the hidden side-mounted guns that for this TLCB Writer ruined the whole ‘Cars’ premise. Boo Pixar.

There’s more to see of Danny’s top-tier 10262 B-Model recreation of Finn McMissile at the Eurobricks forum, and you can click the link above join the mission.

Allelys’ Arocs

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We regularly feature ginormous trucks here at The Lego Car Blog. Because we’re five. But today’s is rather smaller, being just seven studs in width, yet packing in as much detail as models several times its size. Built by regular bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, this Mercedes-Benz Arocs replicates the real world trucks run by British heavy haulage firm Allelys, and you can see more of it, the trailer it pulls, and a few of Ralph’s other superb small-scale haulers via the link above.

Born Slippy*

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According to cartoon lore, the banana skin is the slippiest object in the universe. Not the obvious choice for tyres therefore, which tend to require the opposite characteristics of skiddy fruit, but that hasn’t stopped Renaud Petit Lego, who has equipped his sci-fi water tanker with wheels wrapped in the bendy berries. Keep your eyes peeled and slither over to Flickr via the link above.

Today’s seminal title song.

Duke 690

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LEGO’s expanding range of 1:5 scale Technic motorcycle sets is not only allowing fans to build some of the world’s best bikes in brick form, it’s also furnishing the Lego Community with a plethora of new pieces to enable them to create their own.

This is one such creation, borne from the pieces found within LEGO’s flagship motorcycle sets, and constructed by JoKo of Eurobricks. This stunning KTM 690 Duke brings a bike brand not yet amongst LEGO’s licensed partners into the fold, and includes working steering and suspension, a detailed engine with piston, timing chain, camshaft, and a light-brick synchronised with the combustion cycle, and a sequential gearbox.

JoKo has also built a motorised display stand that allows his model’s engine and gearbox to operate, and you can check out the full details, imagery, and a video of the bike in action at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.

Not a Bad Way to Spend $10,000

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The infamous words of Dominic Toretto, after lifting the hood of Brian O’Conner’s modified Mitsubishi Eclipse, and listing several things you wouldn’t be able to see by lifting the hood.

A ludicrous street race and the Mitsubishi’s demise at the hands of a Japanese motorcycle gang would follow, as would ten mostly terrible movies, and a whole load more modified cars.

But back to Brian’s first ride in the franchise, and previous bloggee ArtemyZotov, who has remembered the short-lived Eclipse from ‘The Fast and the Furious’ by recreating it in Technic form, complete with custom rims, opening doors, hood and trunk, working steering, and the option of remote control drive.

There’s more to see at both Eurobricks and Bricksafe, and building instructions are available so you can recreate your own ‘Fast & Furious’ street race at home. Click on the links above to race for pinks, and here to see the Eclipse’s rather more famous replacement.

Porsche to Pagani

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We suspect there aren’t many cars that Porsche 911 owners would swap their cars for. Certainly none of the heaps in TLCB staff car park. A Pagani Zonda on the other hand…

Cue Flickr’s Gerald Cacas, who has switched his Porsche 911 (in LEGO 10295 Creator Expert form) for the legendary Italian hypercar, using only the pieces of his Porsche to create it.

Opening clamshells and doors, a detailed interior, working steering, and a removable engine all feature, and there’s more of Gerald’s 10295 B-Model to see at his ‘Pagani Zonda – 10295 Porsche Alternate Build’ album. Click the link to take a look.

Survive the Fire

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Ford’s Transit was an emphatic success when it launched in the 1960s. By the late ’70s almost every van on British and European roads was a Transit, with vans called ‘Transits’ regardless of their actual make and model.

But the Transit was also disposable. Built as a tool, rarely looked after, and thrown away afterwards, the attrition of the Transit was almost total. Almost.

In 1960s-70s Germany, the Transit Mk.1 was a popular fire response vehicle, carrying ladders on the roof, pumping equipment inside, and with a siren and an upturned plant-pot blue light mounted above the cab.

Unlike their invariably white workhorse brethren, Transits in the fire service were well looked after, meticulously maintained, and travelled relatively low mileage. They were also kept for decades, and thus by the time they retired they were the only surviving examples of the Mk1 left. Which means that today if you see a Ford Transit Mk1 in Germany, it’ll probably be red, and once have carried ladders on the roof.

Cue Versteinert‘s lovely 7-wide German fire service Ford Transit Mk1, constructed following his more humdrum version that appeared here last month. Beautiful attention to detail matches the presentation, and there’s more to see of his fantastic fire service Ford at his photostream.

Click the first link in the text above for one of the few Transit Mk1 survivors, or the second for one that almost certainly didn’t.

Enter Shikra

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It’s been a while since we last posted a sci-fi creation, which is mostly because, well… we’re rubbish at it. However even we can spot the brilliant ingenuity in newcomer Outer space BRICKS‘ unique ‘BT-SHIKRA’. Classified as ‘Neo-Blacktron’, OSB’s complex trapezoidal design is one of the most original ship shapes we’ve seen this year. There’s more of the creation to see on Flickr, and you can take a closer look at some terrifically clever Blacktron-based tessellation via the link above.

Micro MAZ

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Here at The Lego Car Blog we love enormous, many-motored machines. Because we’re six. But there’s joy to be found in the small things too, as proven today by Nathan Hake and this wonderful micro-scale MAZ-537. Constructed crossing an autumnal bridge, Nathan’s miniature MAZ is a tiny tribute to his own enormous, many-motored version built for a Lego show that appeared here a few months ago. There’s more of Nathan’s mini-MAZ to see via the link above, you can find the huge show-stopping version from which this diorama is derived here, and if you’d like to see more of the many MAZs to appear at TLCB to date you can click this bonus link to find them all.

My Other Car’s a Porsche

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The first generation Audi TT is – in the writer’s opinion – one of the greatest automotive designs of the last quarter-century. With curved surfaces, minimalist detailing, and brushed aluminium everywhere, it was a zeitgeist for the new millennium aesthetic.

That it didn’t drive anywhere near as good as it looked was irrelevant to the tens of thousands of buyers in TLCB’s home nation, where the TT was an enormous success. They bought it on design alone, a niche today filled by the Range Rover Evoque.

Cue Nathanael Kuipers’ recreation of the TT, constructed solely from the LEGO 10295 Creator Expert Porsche 911 set. An opening hood (with a detailed engine underneath), doors and rear hatch feature, and you can jump back to peak late-’90s automotive design at Nathanel’s photostream.

All Fours

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The SUV dominates today’s new car market. Whether they’re four-wheel-drive or only look like they’re four-wheel-drive, all are tapping into the marketing of an outdoorsy lifestyle. Which usually means adverts showing impossibly handsome people parked at the beach. Or going hang-gliding off a mountain. Or unpacking some kayaks.

Of course the most adventurous thing the owners will actually do is watch a nature documentary on Netflix, but that hasn’t slowed the unstoppable rise of the pseudo-4×4. Today though, we have two proper all-wheel drive icons, the legendary Audi quattro, and the evergreen Jeep Wrangler.

The Audi (above) comes from Sam Andreas (aka Sseven Bricks), who has placed his superb Speed Champions Audi quattro Sport in its natural environment, navigating a perilous icy mountain pass high above Monaco. It’s here the quattro demonstrated to the world the benefits of all-wheel-drive in a performance car, and today almost every high performance saloon, estate, and yes – SUV, is driven by all four wheels.

At the other end of the four-wheel-drive scale is the Jeep Wrangler, a car derived from a vehicle so synonymous with off-roading it became the catch-all name for anything 4×4. This brick-built version of the Wrangler’s latest incarnation (below) is the work of yelo_bricks, who’s captured the ‘JL’-series in Speed Champions scale with aplomb.

There’s more to see of both four-wheel-drive icons on Flickr. Take a look via the links above whilst we – as SUV owners – go hang-gliding off a mountain or something.

LEGO Technic H1 2025 | Set Previews

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It’s a few weeks before Christmas
And all through LEGO’s HQ
TLCB Elves have been sneaking
Finding sets to preview.

Yes it’s that time of year once again, when a crack team of ‘volunteer’ Elves are thrown over the LEGO Company’s perimeter wall to uncover next year’s new Technic sets. This is the complete H1 2025 Technic line-up!

42197 Backhoe Loader

LEGO Technic 42197 Backhoe Loader

We kick off the 2025 Technic range with this, the new 42197 Backhoe Loader. A neat counterpart to last year’s 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer, 42197 includes a raising front bucket via a worm gear and a roof mounted cog, a posable backhoe, and deployable stabilisers. Just 104 pieces are needed, it’s aimed at ages 7+, and it fulfils the starter-set brief beautifully.

42198 Bush Plane

LEGO Technic Bush Plane 42198

Trebling the piece-count is the 42198 Bush Plane, a welcome and too-rare foray into fixed wing aircraft.

Aimed at ages 8+, 42198 includes a flat-4 piston engine linked to the propellor and powered – we think – by an intriguing push-beam mechanism that simultaneously operates working ailerons (flaps) that flip in opposing directions to make turns.

Besides the rather clunky-looking landing gear, 42198 looks like an excellent small-scale set, with zebra-stripe stickerage and some good parts too, including propellor blades, new white beams, and a surprising number of gears. We like.

42199 Monster Jam DIGatron & 42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus

After a short break away from Monster Jam for the Pull-Backs, LEGO is returning to the partnership for 2025. And that’s no bad thing, as these sets are really only designed for one purpose; being launched down a hallway and over a ramp made of books and a cereal box.

42199 Monster Jam DIGatron and 42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus will no doubt perform said task admirably, and – outfitted with both stickers and teeth – they’re perfect for their 7+ target.

42201 Deep-Sea Research Submarine

On to one of 2025’s most unusual Technic sets, the 413-piece 42201 Deep-Sea Research Submarine. Reminiscent of the largely forgotten 1997 Divers sub-theme, 42201 looks rather un-Technic-y, despite being constructed almost exclusively from Technic pieces. A selection of cogs operate the pitch of the propellors and the grab-arm, and you’ll be able to scoop up the remnants of the Ocean Gate Titan when 42201 dives into stores from January 2025.

42202 Ducati Panigale V4 S Motorcycle

Wait, haven’t we done this already? Almost.

The 42202 Ducati Panigale V4 S moves one letter down the alphabet from 2020’s 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R, and in doing so ups the piece-count by a thousand, the target age by eight, and the price by $100.

Measuring over 40cm long, the new 1,600-piece Ducati will arrive with a foot-operated three-speed (plus neutral) gearbox, a V4 engine chain-linked to the rear wheel, functioning steering, and working suspension, plus some spectacular looking bodywork.

Joining LEGO’s previous 1:5 scale Technic motorcycles (the 42159 Yamaha MT-10 SP and 42130 BMW M 1000 RR), the new 42202 Ducati Panigale V4 S is expected to cost around £170/$200 when it arrives next year, and whilst it does look to somewhat repeat its smaller 42017 brother, there have been dozens of red Ferrari sets to date, so a second (and much larger) Ducati is fine by us.

42203 Tipping Dump Truck

We complete* the new 2025 Technic line-up with a neat mid-size truck of the type LEGO has built for decades. The new 462-piece 42203 Tipping Dump Truck features ‘HOG’ steering, and hand-cranked tipper, and, um… that’s it. Perhaps for £45 we’d have hoped for some basic oscillating suspension or something, but we’re in the minority. LEGO know it’s aesthetics that sell their products today, even Technic ones, and thus 42203 likely loses that extra feature in favour of decals and visual detail. And on those counts it scores rather well.

Aimed at ages 9+, the new 42203 Tipping Dump Truck will join the rest of the new Technic range in stores from early next year, with a few of the new sets (including this one) available to pre-order via the official LEGO website from now.

*Plus of course the 42204 Fast & Furious Toyota Supra Mk4, 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and 42206 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 car sets already revealed here at The Lego Car Blog, and the enormous new LEGO Formula 1 line-up of which the latter is part.

Keep the Fath

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‘Tis the season of love, wonder, and miracles. So here’s an Iranian short-range satellite-guided tactical ballistic missile system.

Mounted on an Iveco Trakker curtain-sided truck, the Fath-360 TEL missile system is so nondescript when covered up, it could be driving down any European street and no-one would know what was inside. Good thing one of Iran’s customers isn’t currently invading a European neighbour then.

Of course you might be wondering how sanctioned Iran, and its allies Russia and Syria, are getting their hands on an Italian truck on which to mount a ballistic missile system, particularly as Italy (along with the rest of the EU) are supporting Ukraine, the very country invaded by Iran’s key customer. Well, us too.

Whatever, this neat mini-figure scale replica of the Fath-360 missile system and the Iveco Trakker that transports it comes from previous bloggee Ralph Savelsberg, who has captured it superbly, particularly the ‘curtain’ stacked over the cab to allow deployment. There’s more to see on Flickr, and you can join some Russians driving an Iranian ballistic missile system covertly through a Ukrainian town, courtesy of Italy, via the link above.