We have absolutely no idea what’s going on here, so it’s probably best you just ask Vince Toulouse. Whilst this is the fifth machine from Vince that we’ve featured here we’re no closer to learning what it’s all about. You can see some of his previous machines – and amuse yourself at our previous attempts at an explanation – by clicking here. We’ll get back to cars…
It’s time for another TLCB Set Review! But this time it’s one of our readers – the winner of TLCB Summer Building Competition – Thomas Graafland, who has picked up the Reviewer’s Pen. Thomas has got his hands on LEGO’s 2015 Technic flagship set, the 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs, and he’s joined us to explain all…
Browsing on Flickr a while ago I noticed this neat looking Mercedes truck displayed at a Lego fair.
Thinking at first that this was a MOC I was quite shocked that this was actually an official set. The second big shock was the €170 price tag. Normally there would be no chance of me spending that much on a single set, but being a fan of both trucks and LEGO, I knew this was THE set for me.
The box is as per usual with big Technic sets: large and decorated showing the model and the systems used; in this case both Power Functions and Pneumatics V2, and the cover folds open to reveal the model’s functions and some specifications of the real truck.
The box feels heavy, which is always a good sign. Inside are lots of plastic bags, each numbered from 1 to 6, except the one containing the pneumatic parts. The battery box is not in a bag and just slides around in the box between the plastic bags. Instructions are in a single book of 470 pages and the instructions booklet is packed in plastic too, so no folded pages.
The building process is lots of fun. You start off with the chassis, working from the front to the rear. Then comes the cabin, next the crane, and you finish with the bed. The building is very straight-forward, until you reach the crane, which requires some intensive studying of the instructions to get the tubing through the turntable right. It’s not like the instructions give you no clues on how to do it, but it does require a bit of extra attention. The finished truck is not huge, being similar to the 8285/8258 in terms of size. It is heavier, though!
The trucks cabin looks very neat and it definitely looks just like the real deal. The overall shape of the cabin is very smooth, and the cab doesn’t lack detail either. All mirrors, lights, horns and whatnot are present, showing that LEGO went quite some attention to getting the cabin right. I personally really am a fan of the way they did the front grill. I do think it would’ve looked better if the middle part of the grill would’ve been angled too, though, because it just looks a little odd to have only angled the lowest part. The doors open up, to reveal a very, very basic interior. The white colour of the cab looks very clean, but it doesn’t really stand out, which is quite a shame – it doesn’t do justice to that good looking cabin. The ever-boring dark bluish grey doesn’t help making it exciting either.
Steering is done with the two orange beacons on top of the cabin. The steering system works very well, but you have exactly zero grip on those slippery round beacons. There is some slack with the gears too, which only makes steering more difficult. The two front axles steer and turning feels very smooth thanks to the different steering locks on the two axles.
The truck features live-axle suspension all-around. The suspension is a bit on the hard side, but it works very well apart from that. One big downside of the suspension is that the truck sits really high on its wheels. This would’ve been no problem if the suspension travel was as big the gap between the wheels and fenders, but unfortunately it isn’t. Even when fully compressed, there is still about 2 studs room above the wheels and I feel that lowering the truck would actually have been quite possible. However, the suspension will be a very good base to re-use for Model Team MOCs.
The drivetrain is simple and smooth. The two rear axles drive the engine, which is hidden underneath the cabin. The inline six turns at reasonable speed and especially at higher speeds it makes that nice rattling sound. It’s bit of a pity that it can’t be seen from outside while driving it around, because it is completely hidden by the cab. The cabin folds forward neatly, but even then you can only see the first four cylinders. With some effort you can see the fifth one under the battery box, but the sixth cylinder is completely invisible underneath the crane.
The battery box is hidden very neatly in the rear part of the cabin and is easily replaced. The Power Functions L-motor that drives all the functions resides somewhere in the middle of the chassis and has no trouble driving any of the functions. The gearbox that is driven by the L-motor uses the new driving rings and gears and it drives four functions in total; Continue reading
This may not be a car, but it is beautiful and throughly automotive related, so it warrants publication here. Andrew Tate‘s gorgeous art-deco garage and gas station can be found in more detail on Flickr – click the link above to fill up.
Nissan’s Skyline is not made for drifting. With computer controlled all-wheel-drive the GTR is in fact designed to have as much grip as possible. But with enough modifications and some clever engineering Nissan’s technological marvel can be turned into a tool for any purpose, drifting included, and car building legend Sariel has taken exactly this approach to create his drift Skyline GTR.
There’s no all-wheel-drive here, and Sariel has fitted his rear-wheel-drive remote control model with a few modifications of his own. Third-party LED lights are employed front and rear, whilst the wheels have been replaced by 3D-printed parts from Seven Studs which provide limited grip on shiny surfaces, allowing the car to get wonderfully sideways.
There’s lots more to see, including a great video of the Skyline getting its drift on, at Sariel’s MOCpage – click the link above to get sideways, or here to read Sariel’s interview here at TLCB.
This incredible recreation of a 1960s tug boat, the ‘Smit Steenbank’, comes from nautical extraordinaire Konajra. Featuring some of the best detailing that you will ever see in Lego form and measuring 80cm long, Konajra’s latest ship shows just how far Lego can be taken as a modelling medium. We highly recommend visiting Konajra’s Flickr account to see all of the spectacular images – click the link to join us in astonishement.
This glorious (and huge) Classic Space ship comes from TLCB debutant Alec Hole (whose name probably generates a few giggles when shortened to the first initial). You can see more of his twin-cockpit Neo Galaxy Commander on Flickr at the link above.
Our Elves have barely a rudimentary grasp of even the English language, so unfortunately foreign-language sites are largely missed here at TLCB. However, a Doktor Brick member (Pat) got in touch with a suggestion from the German Lego forum, so it’s over to him as guest blogger…
We at Doktor Brick have some really good car builders and designers… Today I’d like to present you this excellent Freightliner Truck from the 1970s. The model is 8-studs wide and fits well into the latest Lego City universe. Pet-tho is the builder and you can see all of his photos (plus some explanation in German) by clicking here.
If you’d like to get in touch with us as Pat has done you can do so by visiting the Feedback and Submission Suggestions page. We’ve even archived the hundreds of previous comments so the page won’t take an hour to load anymore too!
Lots of awesome Lego creations have appeared here since we started blogging a few short years ago. During this time the standard of uploads in the Lego Community has risen to new heights, with many builds being considered bona-fide works of art.
But… and we know this will annoy some… that’s not what Lego was made for. Lego was made for play, so it’s lovely to see a build that not only looks great but that has play value too.
David VII‘s Town-scale hot rod can fit a mini-figure inside it, has opening doors and roof, and posable steering. And for that we like it very much. See more on Flickr at the link above.
The entries have been reviewed, much beer has been drunk, and a few fights have broken out, but we can now announce the Winners of TLCB Summer Building Competition!
Choosing the top two creations from the dozens of entries received has been no easy task, in fact it was hard enough agreeing on the top five. If you’re reading this and your model appeared here during the past two months, you were probably in with a shout.
The competition Winner and Runner-Up will bag themselves some great prizes courtesy of the awesome guys at No Starch Press – we highly recommend checking out their range of brilliant Lego books at the link above.
And now, the winners!…
Wise if slightly ironic words from the late King of Pop. Today’s two opposingly-hued Town creations show that even the trickiest of colours can be photographed beautifully.
Above is -derjoe-‘s wonderfully accurate Volkswagen Transporter, whilst below TLCB regular _Tiler is making another appearance, this time with a gorgeous classic Chevrolet Camaro.
There’s more to see of each 6-wide masterpiece via the links above, and if you’d like a few tips on how to take photos as good as these two, click this link.
This is a neat Town garage scene was found on Flickr today. Eric Teo has built all the tools and equipment you could need, plus a very cool looking hot rod, in his 32×32 diorama. The mini-figures look a bit on the small side though – perhaps Eric’s build finally provides the answer for the universally useless Jack Stone figures. Those were dark days eh LEGO?… Anyway, you can see more of the vertically-challenged mechanics and their excellent garage backdrop at the link above.
We were still hoovering up the left over Elf body parts (we think they grow back… probably) from today’s earlier mass smushing when this came barrelling down the corridor in pursuit of a group of fleeing Elves.
Fortunately what is a terrifying Monster Truck of Death to the Elves is a Smallish Remote Control Toy to us, so it was duly picked up and the piloting Elf found and ejected from the office.
A Smallish Remote Control Toy it may be, but we can confirm that paave‘s buggy-motor powered, all-wheel-steered and all-wheel-drive ‘Hulk’ monster truck is riot to drive. So much so that it was sorely tempting to go on smushing rampage of our own.
You can see more of the Hulk on both MOCpages and Eurobricks – click the links to make the jump.
Sigh… Another day, another RC find, and another hour spent picking squashed Elves out of the office carpet. This has got to stop.
The cause of the carnage goes some way to brightening the mood here at TLCB Towers as it’s an absolutely first-class build. Eurobricks’ Madoca has constructed one of the best Technic off-road vehicles of the year with this incredible Baja trophy truck.
Underneath the bodywork is a Technic axle frame that houses five Power Functions motors (four for drive through the rear wheels plus one servo motor for steering) all controlled by a third-party SBrick system, a working V8 engine, LED lights, and brilliantly engineered independent front and trailing arm rear suspension, making Madoca’s trophy truck one of the most competent off-road vehicles built from Lego that we’ve seen.
You can read all the technical details and see the full gallery of images via the link in the text above, and you can watch the truck in action via the excellent video below.
YouTube Video:
After a week of hard drinki… er, we mean judging, all of the fantastic entries in TLCB Summer Building Competition have been evaluated, tested and scored by a crack team of various TLCB office staff.
We’ll be publishing the results shortly, with the winner and runner up bagging themselves some awesome Lego books from the guys at No Starch Press. We’ll also be contacting the winners via their online accounts (whether that be MOCpages, Flickr, Eurobricks etc.) so if you see your creation appear here soon make sure you check your messages!
Well done to all the competition entrants, we received a huge range of entries and choosing the top two was no easy task – although the beer helped. See you soon for the Winner’s Announcement!
This neat Lego Ursus tractor (a Polish-built Massey Ferguson) comes from previous bloggee Damien Z. aka Thietmaier. It’s both beautifully constructed and photographed, and you can see all the images on Flickr here.