Carl Greatrix continues his run of Caterham Seven’s with this R300 racing version. Carl’s hoping his design will become an official LEGO set (and we are too) – click the link above to make it happen!
7UP
1 Reply
Not a Seven
This is not a Lotus 7. Or a Caterham 7. Or a Westfield 7. Or indeed any variation on the 7 theme that we knew of. It is in fact a Donkervoort S8A, which is a new one on us, but nevertheless it looks great in Lego form. Previous bloggee Vinny Turbo is on a roll, and you can see more of his latest creation here.
History Repeating
One of the best ideas of last year is back. It’s the ‘Fifteen Piece Vehicle Challenge’ on MOCpages. That’s right. Fifteen. One-Five. It’s an amazing test of creativity and pure, simple fun. Just ask Tom Remy, last year’s winner with this:
A Beautiful Way to Travel, so long as you don’t mind where you’re going…
If you think you can match that, head on over to Sam the First’s group on MOCpages and get building. Three weeks to combine fifteen pieces of Lego should be plenty of time, and even the Elves can scrape together the necessary plastic. It’s informal, it’s fun, it’s open to everybody, and it’s even well organized. Can you tell that we like it? Get over there!
Our Fine Four Fendered Friend
Okay, we admit it, the Elf Riot was our fault. It all started when we promised our pointy-eared workers a night off, watching a DVD. The story was based on a book by the man who wrote James Bond and the film features some explosions and a transforming car. What could go wrong?
The Elves settled down in expectation of seeing something with Megan Fox, fireballs, Megan Fox, Optimus Prime, Megan Fox… Well you get the idea. Dick van Dyke just didn’t cut it. The Elves who made it through the ensuing mutiny and endured 144 minutes of 1960s musical spectacular have been irredeemably scarred.*
Anyhow, relax and feast your eyes on Ralph Savelsberg’s latest creation in his series of vehicles from film and TV. Featuring detachable wings and a brick-built Caractacus Pott, this Lego version of the most expensive theatre prop of all time looks splendid on its vintage, 1970s wheels. Click the link in the text to see more photos of this car, including WIP shots and Ralph’s neat solution to building Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s long exhaust pipe.
*They’ve started to demand payment in Toot Sweets instead of Smarties.
Mean Machine
This Pro Street Racer is the work of piratecox on Flickr. It features all of the chrome and giant fins that you’d hope to find find on a 50s or 60s automobile. It also sports the obligatory hot-rod custom exhausts and an engine so large that the driver can’t actually see where he’s going. The car also has an instrument panel made from coffee cups and a mean looking driver.
Whilst the Elves were passing through piratecox’s Photostream, they collected the first of this year’s Febrovery builds to be blogged here. Many Rebrovery builds feature multiple wheels but this rather nice Classic Space motorbike has just the usual two. Click the links in text to see more.
Maintenance Time
The first of two car maintenance related posts today comes from L@go, over on Flickr. It’s a reworking of the classic 361 Garage set from 1979. This version has been updated and expanded too, leaving loads of space for an interior packed with details.
There’s an oil spill on the floor, that looks just like the stain on the carpet in reception at The Lego Car Blog Towers. There’s also a very nicely built bench vice and what we hope is a sausage in a microwave. Higher up, you might spot a fume extraction system and the typical collection of junk and old car parts that you’ll find on the office roof of many workshop. Click on this link to see the full album of the Raph brothers’ repair shop.
Pump Up The Volume
One of The Lego Car Blog Elves has just staggered back into the office, having been lost in the Hardnuary group on Flickr for a while. It’s demanding a blue Smartie as a reward but as this build isn’t a vehicle of any kind (and Hardnuary finished 5 days ago), we’re saying, “No”. However we are blogging this model by Dicky Laban because we think it’s a neat bit of work, it’s car related and it also gives us an excuse to post a link to this classic tune from 1987.
Back to the Future (For the Third Time)
Here at The Lego Car Blog our attitude to sci-fi is like our attitude to art: we don’t much about it but we know what we like. We’ve done quite well recently, having blogged both the first and second place winners in the third ever Classic Space Pocket Money Contest, well before the results were announced. The third place build was a spacey golf course in LDD, which didn’t really meet our submission guidelines, so we’ve an excuse for missing that one.
The Elves’ favourite was Locutus 666’s Rapid Reconnaissance Rover, an impressively large machine built from less than 100 pieces. Equipped with two cockpits and big wheels for high-speed rolling across the office floor, this vehicle kept our diminutive workforce entertained for a long time. Then they discovered that it’s a modular build, which can be quickly swapped into various configurations. That’s when the fighting started…
Regardless of this, we’re feeling a bit more confident about our sci-fi expertise, especially when things have wheels on. We’ll be watching this year’s Febrovery Flickr festival with interest.
Outflanked!
One of the reasons that we originally created The Lego Car Blog and unleashed the Elves on an unsuspecting world, was our belief that quality vehicle builds were being neglected by Lego bloggers. It is therefore with some pride* that we can announce that one of the “proper Lego blogs” beat us to this beautiful Technic sports car by quite a few days.
Jeroen Ottens has skilfully used Technic panels and flex rods to produce a mid-engine machine with a smooth, curved body. He has based the car around the look of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider and included some built-in Italian stripes to emphasise this. The car also has full Power Functions features, including a working gear box. Click this link to Jeroen’s Photostream see more.
*This is our excuse and we’re sticking to it.
Mini Motor Mania
The appropriately named Vinny Turbo has just uploaded a load of new builds onto his MOCpages and Flickr accounts. Unfortunately this has resulted in a disorderly hoard of Elves stampeding into The Lego Car Blog offices and demanding Smarties of all sorts of colours. After dispersing our chaotic co-workers with a liberal use of Mister Airhorn, we’ve chosen a couple of the best to share with you.
At the top of this post is the Integra, a re-worked version of an earlier car, which now comes with adjustable front Bat-spoiler. At the bottom of this post is the sleek and refined VTS V10, which features some interesting SNOT bodywork. Also worth a look are the Bentrolls Steam Cloud limousine and the VTS Edge with its curvaceous black body. Click on the links in the text to see more of Vinny’s work.
Kandy Kolored Krazy Karts
…Or according to the picture below, just red and blue ones; but as everyone knows, they’re the best Smarties….
Under Starter’s Orders…
The Technic Go-Kart. These have been delighting lovers of oversteer and leaving tyre marks on kitchen floors since 1978. Time to see what’s what.
First up, the dear old 854, whose under-tyred front wheels and odd-sized seat mattered not a jot when it came to whizzing it along the carpet, engine singing away as it zoomed around in ever decreasing circles. It was strong enough to handle it too (not always the case with the early efforts..) so long as those grey toggle joints around the steering column haven’t cracked. Did someone say kragle? Banish them! This set is a little blue bundle of fun, there’s the usual early set selection of alternate models on the box, it was wildly popular when new and therefore cheap and numerous now. If you haven’t already, get one; TLCB will give you your money back if you don’t love it* 10/10.
A great score, but how does it do in the handling test? In the interest of consumer research (nothing to do with playing with toys, you understand..) this and 5 other Technic Go-Karts have been subjected to an exhaustive analysis of their handling. This encompasses such vital aspects as controlability, grip, weight distribution, sound effects, strength and breakaway characteristics. A go-kart is not a Go-Kart if it isn’t fun to fling around…
Technic Lewis Gets A Wiggle On…
First up, the 854. Flinging it around holding on to the steering wheel is possible (provided it’s assembled carefully and the joints aren’t cracked), the single cylinder engine clatters away at 3x wheel speed nice and smoothly, the hard tyres lack grip. This is excellent. Thanks to it’s relatively long wheelbase and slight rearward weight bias, it can be persuaded to perform graceful drifts at any angle you like. Too slow, though, and it’ll understeer. Overall, a very respectable 8 on the oversteer-ometer.
Next, the tiny 98 piece 1972 from ’85. A larger gear acting on the steering rack makes this exceptionally flickable; its short wheelbase makes it very tail-happy and grip of the softish tyres is easily overcome. A winner. It’s strong enough thanks to it’s lightness and the only thing really lacking is noise – the engine’s a dummy. 8.
The largest of these sets, at 281 pieces, is 8842 from 1986. It took Lego 8 years to dare to replace 854! They used the time well. This machine’s Model Team tyres afford an amusing lack of grip, the overall design is interesting and unusual, it repeats 1972’s trick of a very flickable steering rack and it’s long wheelbase makes it effortlessly controllable. This machine is king of the high-speed J-turn. The engine could be louder (it runs at wheel speed) but that’s easy to modify. Overall, a successful model and a fun steer. 9.
The 8815 ‘Speedway Bandit’ promises much. It looks like a 1972 with the bonus of an engine. At 78 pieces it should have been the ultimate in cheap thrills in 1991. However, it’s handling was hobbled by new steering parts that include that awful flexible rack that Lego foisted on us for a few years; this makes the steering wheel feel far too flimsy in your hand as it has no other support. The engine’s nice, if a bit quiet, and not at all smooth thanks to the crank only being supported at one end! It’ll oversteer nicely though, if you’re gentle. 5.
Next up, the 8219 ‘Racer’ from 1998. This is definitely one of the better efforts from that year… At 103 pieces it’s still small and cheap, it looks good and, despite using the same steering rack piece as its predecessor, it feels sturdier thanks to a little extra support. Its longish wheelbase, slow steering and soft, grippy tyres curtail the oversteer fun somewhat, but it’ll do it on a smooth surface. Its engine runs at 3x wheel speed and provides a chattery soundtrack. 7.
The most recent go-kart is 8256 from 2009. Since I don’t have this, I made one up from my collection, minus the lime green panels but in all other respects the same. It’s certainly the most realistic looking of these (even without the panels) and it’s plenty strong enough, but the steering system kills it. Instead of a rack, you have a pole reverser handle flailing about in a gap along the track rod and, while quick-acting, it feels loose and there’s not enough lock. With that and the long wheelbase and grippy tyres, oversteer is pretty much off the table. Boo. The ride-on lawnmower B-model looks more fun. 4.
Speaking of B-models…
The big red one is from the 853 car chassis set, and the blue comes from the 5541 ‘Blue Fury’ Model Team set, reviewed not long ago by m’learned colleague. Continue reading
A Red Re-Vamp
The Elves were incredibly excited when they found this super Starfighter Transporter by billyburg. They thought that each of hub caps on its 8 wheels was a blue Smartie. Alas not but we have rewarded them with a handful of meal tokens. We’ve previously blogged the chassis of this machine but now it’s been topped off with a colourful, red starfighter which uses a nice mix of Technic panels and System bricks, plus a bit of white sticker. Billyburg has also posted a rather nice space-crane, in the same micro-scale, as you can see below. Click this link to billyburg’s Flickr Photostream to see more of both creations.
Little Old Lady
We close a period of much blogging with another build from a TLCB regular. Flickr’s Senator Chinchilla takes us back to a time when Japanese cars were cool, but also – in Nissan’s case at least – named after elderly British people – the S15 Silvia joining Nissan’s line-up alongside the Cedric, the Gloria and the Maureen*. You can see more of the Senator’s S15 by clicking here, whilst we slow things down a bit here in TLCB Towers.
*We might have made that last one up.
R10
Audi have been the dominant force in endurance racing since forever, and long before diesel and hybrid power became their propulsion of choice they used this, the mighty open-cockpit R10 LMS. Malte Dorowski built this Lego version years ago too, but it’s just appeared on Flickr and thus it can appear here too. See more after the jump.
Airwolf
A sort of Knight Rider of the skies, Airwolf aired between 1984 and 1987, and made every 6 year old boy want to be a helicopter pilot when they grew up. This near-perfect Lego recreation of the ’80s TV star is the work of TLCB regular Ralph Savelsberg, adding to his already impressive catalogue of famous TV vehicles. You can see all the images via the link above.