This Lego DUKW World War II amphibious truck is certainly more fun than a yellow bath toy, although it probably doesn’t float. The real thing does though, hence the ‘Duck’ nickname. Over 21,000 were produced for the Allies during the Second World War for use in the Pacific and during the D-Day Landings, with many surviving today as tourist and leisure craft on our cities’ rivers. Daniel Siskind has built the Lego version we have here, and you can see more of it and his other Lego creations via Flickr.
Flickr user Smigol stopped searching for the one ring just long enough to build this great Swedish pair. His two Town-scale Volvo FH trucks look the business, and more importantly have allowed us to use some phrases which will return hits from searches that are, er… a little ‘different’ to the usual ones that bring people here, which is always funny. So if you’re here for LEGO, check out Smigol’s work via the link above, and if you’re here expecting Scandinavian sisters, apologies for the trickery!
Andreas on Flickr recently uploaded these two Main Battle Tanks in Woodland and Desert camouflage. On the left is the typical European paintwork of military vehicles past, on the right, the Middle-Eastern colours of current warfare. Both look neat in Lego form, and both remind us of how fortunate we are not to be based in an area of conflict (although the Elves do sometimes turn the office into one). As always, the Red Cross will be alongside tanks such as these helping those caught up in military crisis. See how you can help here, and see both Andreas’ tanks at the link above.
Honda’s Marc Marquez claimed victory at the German MotoGP over the weekend, so we’ve decided to take TLCB on two wheels for this post with a Honda from a different era (and budget!). The excellent Honda CB400 motorbike above comes courtesy of OzBen on Brickshelf. Check it out at the link and join the discussion on Eurobricks.
Inspector Morse, a long running drama on British television, featured a car that probably became as famous as its lead character. Morse drove a Mark II Jaguar throughout the show’s 23 year run, even though the books on which the show was based featured a vehicle slightly more Italian. TLCB regular, Ralph Savelsberg, continues his series of movie and TV cars with the famous red 1960 Jaguar 2.4. See more at Ralph’s Flickr photostream here.
The Lego Car Blog Elves continue their never-ending* search for the web’s best Lego vehicles, and today it was Brickshelf‘s turn to yield a model worth publicising.
This marvellous Technic Land Rover Series 1 is the work of Tamas Juhasz aka mbmc137, who has recreated the world-famous 4×4 from a mix of LEGO plates and Technic beams.
Under the lightweight bodywork is a LEGO RC Buggy Motor and a 4-speed gearbox of Tamas’ own design, giving his Land Rover some pretty decent off-road abilities. See the Series 1 in action on YouTube, and check out the full Brickshelf gallery via the link above.
*Unless we get bored of blogging and stop feeding them.
Great Scott! LEGO’s Cuusoo scheme – where fans can publish their creations on the LEGO Cuusoo site, and those reaching 10,000 votes or more are considered for limited production – has generated its fourth fan-designed official LEGO set!
m.togami and Sakuretsu’smini-figure scale DeLorean time-machine from the superb Back To The Future movie franchise was recently approved by LEGO’s ‘Jury’ of designers for production, and The Lego Group this week released images showing how the set will look when it reaches stores later in the year. The new set – numbered 21103 – will contain 401 pieces, including both ‘Doc Emmett Brown’ and ‘Marty McFly’ mini-figures, a skateboard, and of course, a DeLorean with a few ‘modifications’.
It’s too early for us to say what the pricing for 21103 will be, however the really cool news is that the designers have decided that the revenue they receive as a commission reward for creating the Cuusoo-winning product (1% of the total generated) is to be donated to the Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Foundation. If The Lego Car Blog gave out awards for the heroes the Lego Community of 2013, m.togami and Sakuretsu are surely top of the list.
So watch the video below, start saving, and join the discussion on Eurobricks. And congratulations to the winning duo, from all of us here at The Lego Car Blog, for making this exceptional project a reality.
Another day, another Lego creation found, and another pleased Elf gets a fed. Today’s returnee discovered this lovely looking Australian Mack container truck over on Flickr. Built by Jedd aka trapjaw! it’s full of neat details that make it look quite a lot bigger than it really is. You can see them all via Jedd’s gallery at the link above.
A retired car thief and his crew are required to steal 50 cars in one night to pay a debt. A thin plot for sure, but within it are some very good car chases, lots of mad Nic Cage acting, Angelina Jolie, and this; the Mustang GT500 ‘Eleanor’. Ralph Savelsberg rebuilds the movie legend, complete with Memphis Raines figure, on Flickr, which the Elves successfully ‘boosted’ and brought to TLCB office for us to share. Check it out at Ralph’s photostream while they lay low.
This fabulous model of a horrible car is the work of TLCB favourite Karwik on Flickr, who has, for reasons unknown to man and beast, chosen to recreate the abysmal FSO Polonez Hatchback, Coupe and Pick-Up in Lego.
Based on the bits Fiat left behind when they couldn’t be bothered to pack properly during their exit from Eastern Europe in the early ’80s, the FSO Polonez became a success in Poland almost purely because import taxes protected it from competition. This privileged position ended when Poland joined the EU and since then the FSO hatchback has been rapidly replaced by more advanced Western machinery.
The FSO Pick-Up however, has shown a bit more staying power, due to such merits as its large carrying capacity and being easy to fix. Probably not quite as easy to fix as Karwik‘s version though, of which you can see more on Flickr.
Here at The Lego Car Blog we don’t often publish articles on 4-wide vehicles. This is mostly because they don’t look much like the vehicle that they’re supposed to. Nils O forced TLCB Office to rethink this policy today, by building a 4-wide Porsche 959 that looks, well, exactly like a Porsche 959. So a sheepish thumbs-up to Nils from TLCB Team, and you can see more of his 4-wide work at MOCpages or Flickr.
The supporting actor of track sides, the B-Side is there only to fill the blank space on the back of the record. But sometimes the B-Side turns out to be better than than the A.
B-Sides famous for being more famous than their A-Side compatriots are rare things, but U2’s ‘Sweetest Thing’, The Smiths’ ‘How Soon is Now’ and er… The Righteous Brothers’ ‘Unchained Melody’ are today joined by Nathanael Kuipers’ 42000 Hot Rod, which is, somewhat remarkably, a more appealing model than the one upon which it’s based.
And the best thing about Nathanael’s work is you can build one too! Just buy LEGO’s 42000 Technic F1 Racer set and you’ll have all the parts you need. See how Nathanael’s done it on MOCpages or Flickr.
It’s been a while since we featured a purely Technic car here at The Lego Car Blog, and even longer since we featured one in such a classic style – they’re getting hard to find these days. szecs aka lipko takes us back to 1999 with a beam-and-pin Rally Car suggested to us via the Feedback page. You can see the full gallery on Brickshelf via the link above.
This wonderful Model Team 1968 Chrysler New Yorker was discovered by one of our Elves on MOCpages. Featuring opening doors, trunk and hood, plenty of detail, and yet still robust enough for an Elf to zoom around the office without fear of breaking it and being thrown outside by the ears, it’s the perfect blend of playability an aesthetics. Jonathan Derksen is the barista responsible, and you can see more of his New York classic on MOCpages here.
This Lego DUKW World War II amphibious truck is certainly more fun than a yellow bath toy, although it probably doesn’t float. The real thing does though, hence the ‘Duck’ nickname. Over 21,000 were produced for the Allies during the Second World War for use in the Pacific and during the D-Day Landings, with many surviving today as tourist and leisure craft on our cities’ rivers. Daniel Siskind has built the Lego version we have here, and you can see more of it and his other Lego creations via Flickr.
